A comprehensive map of human elastin cross-linking during elastogenesis

Directed Assembly of Elastic Fibers via Coacervate Droplet Deposition on Electrospun Templates

Elastic fibers provide critical elasticity to the arteries, lungs, and other organs. Elastic fiber assembly is a process where soluble tropoelastin is coacervated into liquid droplets, cross-linked, and deposited onto and into microfibrils. While much progress has been made in understanding the biology of this process, questions remain regarding the timing of interactions during assembly. Furthermore, it is unclear to what extent fibrous templates are needed to guide coacervate droplets into the correct architecture. The organization and shaping of coacervate droplets onto a fiber template have never been previously modeled or employed as a strategy for shaping elastin fiber materials. Using an in vitro system consisting of elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs), genipin cross-linker, electrospun polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) fibers, and tannic acid surface coatings for fibers, we explored ELP coacervation, cross-linking, and deposition onto fiber templates. We demonstrate that integration of coacervate droplets into a fibrous template is primarily influenced by two factors: (1) the balance of coacervation and cross-linking and (2) the surface energy of the fiber templates. The success of this integration affects the mechanical properties of the final fiber network. Our resulting membrane materials exhibit highly tunable morphologies and a range of elastic moduli (0.8-1.6 MPa) comparable to native elastic fibers.

Structural and physical basis for the elasticity of elastin

Elastin function is to endow vertebrate tissues with elasticity so that they can adapt to local mechanical constraints. The hydrophobicity and insolubility of the mature elastin polymer have hampered studies of its molecular organisation and structure-elasticity relationships. Nevertheless, a growing number of studies from a broad range of disciplines have provided invaluable insights, and several structural models of elastin have been proposed. However, many questions remain regarding how the primary sequence of elastin (and the soluble precursor tropoelastin) governs the molecular structure, its organisation into a polymeric network, and the mechanical properties of the resulting material. The elasticity of elastin is known to be largely entropic in origin, a property that is understood to arise from both its disordered molecular structure and its hydrophobic character. Despite a high degree of hydrophobicity, elastin does not form compact, water-excluding domains and remains highly disordered. However, elastin contains both stable and labile secondary structure elements. Current models of elastin structure and function are drawn from data collected on tropoelastin and on elastin-like peptides (ELPs) but at the tissue level, elasticity is only achieved after polymerisation of the mature elastin. In tissues, the reticulation of tropoelastin chains in water defines the polymer elastin that bears elasticity. Similarly, ELPs require polymerisation to become elastic. There is considerable interest in elastin especially in the biomaterials and cosmetic fields where ELPs are widely used. This review aims to provide an up-to-date survey of/perspective on current knowledge about the interplay between elastin structure, solvation, and entropic elasticity.

Multiple Natural Polymers in Drug and Gene Delivery Systems

Natural polymers are organic compounds produced by living organisms. In nature, they exist in three main forms, including proteins, polysaccharides, and nucleic acids. In recent years, with the continuous research on drug and gene delivery systems, scholars have found that natural polymers have promising applications in drug and gene delivery systems due to their excellent properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, low immunogenicity, and easy modification. However, since the structure, physicochemical properties, pharmacological properties and biological characteristics of biopolymer molecules have not yet been entirely understood, further studies are required before large-scale clinical application. This review focuses on recent advances in the representative natural polymers such as proteins (albumin, collagen, elastin), polysaccharides (chitosan, alginate, cellulose) and nucleic acids. We introduce the characteristics of various types of natural polymers, and further outline the characterization methods and delivery forms of these natural polymers. Finally, we discuss possible challenges for natural polymers in subsequent experimental studies and clinical applications. It provides an important strategy for the clinical application of natural polymers in drug and gene delivery systems.

Blood-Based Biomarkers Reflecting Protease 3 and MMP-12 Catalyzed Elastin Degradation as Potential Noninvasive Surrogate Markers of Endoscopic and Clinical Disease in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Chronic inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) triggers significant extracellular matrix remodeling, including elastin remodeling, leading to severe clinical complications. Novel methods to assess intestinal tissue destruction may act as surrogate markers of endoscopic disease activity, relieving patients of invasive endoscopy. We explored the noninvasive blood-based biomarkers ELP-3 and ELM-12, measuring elastin degradation in IBD. In a study involving 104 Crohn's disease (CD), 39 ulcerative colitis (UC), and 29 healthy donors, we assessed these biomarkers' association with endoscopic and clinical disease activity using ELISA. Patients were evaluated based on the SES-CD and CDAI for CD patients and modified MES and partial Mayo for UC patients. ELP-3 and ELM-12 were elevated in patients with IBD. Discerning CD patients in endoscopic remission and mild from moderate to severe, ELP-3 provided an AUC of 0.69 and ELM-12 an AUC of 0.73. The ELP-3 biomarker was associated with UC patients and provided the highest diagnostic power of 0.87 for remission vs. active clinical disease. The data suggest an association of ELP-3 with active CD and ELM-12 with endoscopic remission in CD patients. Additionally, ELP-3 could identify UC patients with active clinical disease from patients in remission. The noninvasive biomarkers ELP-3 and ELM-12 could be potential surrogate biomarkers of elastin degradation and endoscopic and clinical disease markers.

Fabrication of Insoluble Elastin by Enzyme-Free Cross-Linking

Elastin is an essential extracellular matrix protein that enables tissues and organs such as arteries, lungs, and skin, which undergo continuous deformation, to stretch and recoil. Here, an approach to fabricating artificial elastin with close-to-native molecular and mechanical characteristics is described. Recombinantly produced tropoelastin are polymerized through coacervation and allysine-mediated cross-linking induced by pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ). A technique that allows the recovery and repeated use of PQQ for protein cross-linking by covalent attachment to magnetic Sepharose beads is developed. The produced material closely resembles natural elastin in its molecular, biochemical, and mechanical properties, enabled by the occurrence of the cross-linking amino acids desmosine, isodesmosine, and merodesmosine. It possesses elevated resistance against tryptic proteolysis, and its Young's modulus ranging between 1 and 2 MPa is similar to that of natural elastin. The approach described herein enables the engineering of mechanically resilient, elastin-like materials for biomedical applications.

Lysyl Oxidases as Targets for Cancer Therapy and Diagnostic Imaging

The understanding of the contribution of the tumour microenvironment to cancer progression and metastasis, in particular the interplay between tumour cells, fibroblasts and the extracellular matrix has grown tremendously over the last years. Lysyl oxidases are increasingly recognised as key players in this context, in addition to their function as drivers of fibrotic diseases. These insights have considerably stimulated drug discovery efforts towards lysyl oxidases as targets over the last decade. This review article summarises the biochemical and structural properties of theses enzymes. Their involvement in tumour progression and metastasis is highlighted from a biochemical point of view, taking into consideration both the extracellular and intracellular action of lysyl oxidases. More recently reported inhibitor compounds are discussed with an emphasis on their discovery, structure-activity relationships and the results of their biological characterisation. Molecular probes developed for imaging of lysyl oxidase activity are reviewed from the perspective of their detection principles, performance and biomedical applications.

Binding of Pentagalloyl Glucose to Aortic Wall Proteins: Insights from Peptide Mapping and Simulated Docking Studies

Pentagalloyl glucose (PGG) is currently being investigated as a non-surgical treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs); however, the molecular mechanisms of action of PGG on the AAA matrix components and the intra-luminal thrombus (ILT) still need to be better understood. To assess these interactions, we utilized peptide fingerprinting and molecular docking simulations to predict the binding of PGG to vascular proteins in normal and aneurysmal aorta, including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), cytokines, and fibrin. We performed PGG diffusion studies in pure fibrin gels and human ILT samples. PGG was predicted to bind with high affinity to most vascular proteins, the active sites of MMPs, and several cytokines known to be present in AAAs. Finally, despite potential binding to fibrin, PGG was shown to diffuse readily through thrombus at physiologic pressures. In conclusion, PGG can bind to all the normal and aneurysmal aorta protein components with high affinity, potentially protecting the tissue from degradation and exerting anti-inflammatory activities. Diffusion studies showed that thrombus presence in AAAs is not a barrier to endovascular treatment. Together, these results provide a deeper understanding of the clinical potential of PGG as a non-surgical treatment of AAAs.

Sodium Nitroprusside Stimulation of Elastic Matrix Regeneration by Aneurysmal Smooth Muscle Cells

The chronic overexpression of matrix metalloproteases leading to consequent degradation and loss of the elastic matrix with the reduction in tissue elasticity is central to the pathophysiology of proteolytic disorders, such as abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), which are localized rupture-prone aortic expansions. Effecting tissue repair to alleviate this condition is contingent on restoring elastic matrix homeostasis in the aortic wall. This is naturally irreversible due to the poor elastogenicity of adult and diseased vascular cells, and the impaired ability to assemble mature elastic fibers, more so in the context of phenotypic changes to medial smooth muscle cells (SMCs) owing to the loss of nitric oxide (NO) signaling in the AAA wall tissue. In this study, we report the benefits of the exposure of primary human aneurysmal SMCs (aHASMCs) to NO donor drug, sodium nitroprusside (SNP), in improving extracellular matrix homeostasis, particularly aspects of elastic fiber assembly, and inhibition of proteolytic degradation. SNP treatment (100 nM) upregulated elastic matrix regeneration at both gene (p < 0.05) and protein levels (p < 0.01) without affecting cell proliferation, improved gene, and protein expression of crosslinking enzyme, lysyl oxidase (p < 0.05), inhibited the expression of MMP2 (matrix metalloprotease 2) significantly (p < 0.05) and promoted contractile SMC phenotypes in aHASMC culture. In addition, SNP also attenuated the expression of mitogen-activated protein kinases, a significant player in AAA formation and progression. Our results indicate the promise of SNP for therapeutic augmentation of elastic matrix regeneration, with prospects for wall repair in AAAs. Impact Statement Chronic and naturally irreversible enzymatic degradation and loss of elastic fibers are centric to proteolytic disorders such as abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). This is linked to poor elastogenicity of adult and diseased vascular cells, compromising their ability to assemble mature elastic fibers. Toward addressing this, we demonstrate the phenotype-modulatory properties of a nitric oxide donor drug, sodium nitroprusside on aneurysmal smooth muscle cells, and its dose-specific proelastogenic and antiproteolytic properties for restoring elastic matrix homeostasis. Combined with the development of vehicles for site-localized, controlled drug delivery, this can potentially lead to a new nonsurgical approach for AAA wall repair in the future.

Exploring the cardiac ECM during fibrosis: A new era with next-gen proteomics

Extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a critical role in maintaining elasticity in cardiac tissues. Elasticity is required in the heart for properly pumping blood to the whole body. Dysregulated ECM remodeling causes fibrosis in the cardiac tissues. Cardiac fibrosis leads to stiffness in the heart tissues, resulting in heart failure. During cardiac fibrosis, ECM proteins get excessively deposited in the cardiac tissues. In the ECM, cardiac fibroblast proliferates into myofibroblast upon various kinds of stimulations. Fibroblast activation (myofibroblast) contributes majorly toward cardiac fibrosis. Other than cardiac fibroblasts, cardiomyocytes, epithelial/endothelial cells, and immune system cells can also contribute to cardiac fibrosis. Alteration in the expression of the ECM core and ECM-modifier proteins causes different types of cardiac fibrosis. These different components of ECM culminated into different pathways inducing transdifferentiation of cardiac fibroblast into myofibroblast. In this review, we summarize the role of different ECM components during cardiac fibrosis progression leading to heart failure. Furthermore, we highlight the importance of applying mass-spectrometry-based proteomics to understand the key changes occurring in the ECM during fibrotic progression. Next-gen proteomics studies will broaden the potential to identify key targets to combat cardiac fibrosis in order to achieve precise medicine-development in the future.

Cross-linking reactions in food proteins and proteomic approaches for their detection

Various protein cross-linking reactions leading to molecular polymerization and covalent aggregates have been described in processed foods. They are an undesired side effect of processes designed to reduce bacterial load, extend shelf life, and modify technological properties, as well as being an expected result of treatments designed to modify raw material texture and function. Although the formation of these products is known to affect the sensory and technological properties of foods, the corresponding cross-linking reactions and resulting protein polymers have not yet undergone detailed molecular characterization. This is essential for describing how their generation can be related to food processing conditions and quality parameters. Due to the complex structure of cross-linked species, bottom-up proteomic procedures developed to characterize various amino acid modifications associated with food processing conditions currently offer a limited molecular description of bridged peptide structures. Recent progress in cross-linking mass spectrometry for the topological characterization of protein complexes has facilitated the development of various proteomic methods and bioinformatic tools for unveiling bridged species, which can now also be used for the detailed molecular characterization of polymeric cross-linked products in processed foods. We here examine their benefits and limitations in terms of evaluating cross-linked food proteins and propose future scenarios for application in foodomics. They offer potential for understanding the protein cross-linking formation mechanisms in processed foods, and how the inherent beneficial properties of treated foodstuffs can be preserved or enhanced.

Emerging mechanisms of elastin transcriptional regulation

Elastin provides recoil to tissues that stretch such as the lung, blood vessels, and skin. It is deposited in a brief window starting in the prenatal period and extending to adolescence in vertebrates, and then slowly turns over. Elastin insufficiency is seen in conditions such as Williams-Beuren syndrome and elastin-related supravalvar aortic stenosis, which are associated with a range of vascular and connective tissue manifestations. Regulation of the elastin (ELN) gene occurs at multiple levels including promoter activation/inhibition, mRNA stability, interaction with microRNAs, and alternative splicing. However, these mechanisms are incompletely understood. Better understanding of the processes controlling ELN gene expression may improve medicine's ability to intervene in these rare conditions, as well as to replace age-associated losses by re-initiating elastin production. This review describes what is known about the ELN gene promoter structure, transcriptional regulation by cytokines and transcription factors, and posttranscriptional regulation via mRNA stability and micro-RNA and highlights new approaches that may influence regenerative medicine.

Cardiovascular protection associated with cilostazol, colchicine and target of rapamycin inhibitors

ABSTRACT

An alteration in extracellular matrix production by vascular smooth muscle cells is a crucial event in the pathogenesis of vascular diseases such as aging-related, atherosclerosis and allograft vasculopathy. The human target of rapamycin (TOR) is involved in the synthesis of extracellular matrix by vascular smooth muscle cells. TOR inhibitors reduce arterial stiffness, blood pressure, and left ventricle hypertrophy and decrease cardiovascular risk in kidney graft recipients and patients with coronary artery disease and heart allograft vasculopathy. Other drugs that modulate extracellular matrix production such as cilostazol and colchicine have also demonstrated a beneficial cardiovascular effect. Clinical studies have consistently shown that cilostazol confers cardiovascular protection in peripheral vascular disease, coronary artery disease, and cerebrovascular disease. In patients with type 2 diabetes, cilostazol prevents the progression of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis. Colchicine reduces arterial stiffness in patients with Familial Mediterranean Fever and patients with coronary artery disease. Pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the cardioprotective effect of these drugs may be related to interactions between the cytoskeleton, TOR signaling and cyclic AMP synthesis that remain to be fully elucidated. Adult vascular smooth muscle cells exhibit a contractile phenotype and produce little extracellular matrix. Conditions that upregulate extracellular matrix synthesis induce a phenotypic switch toward a synthetic phenotype. TOR inhibition with rapamycin reduces extracellular matrix production by promoting the change to the contractile phenotype. Cilostazol increases the cytosolic level of cyclic AMP, which in turn leads to a reduction in extracellular matrix synthesis. Colchicine is a microtubule-destabilizing agent that may enhance the synthesis of cyclic AMP.

Extracellular Matrix in Aging Aorta

The aging population is booming all over the world and arterial aging causes various age-associated pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The aorta is the largest elastic artery, and transforms pulsatile flow generated by the left ventricle into steady flow to maintain circulation in distal tissues and organs. Age-associated structural and functional changes in the aortic wall such as dilation, tortuousness, stiffening and losing elasticity hamper stable peripheral circulation, lead to tissue and organ dysfunctions in aged people. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a three-dimensional network of macromolecules produced by resident cells. The composition and organization of key ECM components determine the structure-function relationships of the aorta and therefore maintaining their homeostasis is critical for a healthy performance. Age-associated remodeling of the ECM structural components, including fragmentation of elastic fibers and excessive deposition and crosslinking of collagens, is a hallmark of aging and leads to functional stiffening of the aorta. In this mini review, we discuss age-associated alterations of the ECM in the aortic wall and shed light on how understanding the mechanisms of aortic aging can lead to the development of efficient strategy for aortic pathologies and CVDs.

Fuzzy binding model of molecular interactions between tropoelastin and integrin alphaVbeta3

Tropoelastin is the highly flexible monomer subunit of elastin, required for the resilience of the extracellular matrix in elastic tissues. To elicit biological signaling, multiple sites on tropoelastin bind to cell surface integrins in a poorly understood multifactorial process. We constructed a full atomistic molecular model of the interactions between tropoelastin and integrin α_vβ₃ using ensemble-based computational methodologies. Conformational changes of integrin α_vβ₃ associated with outside-in signaling were more frequently facilitated in an ensemble in which tropoelastin bound the integrin's α1 helix rather than the upstream canonical binding site. Our findings support a model of fuzzy binding, whereby many tropoelastin conformations and defined sites cooperatively interact with multiple α_vβ₃ regions. This model explains prior experimental binding to distinct tropoelastin regions, domains 17 and 36, and points to the cooperative participation of domain 20. Our study highlights the utility of ensemble-based approaches in helping to understand the interactive mechanisms of functionally significant flexible proteins.

Elastic tissue disruption is a major pathogenic factor to human vascular disease

Elastic fibers are essential components of the arterial extracellular matrix. They consist of the protein elastin and an array of microfibrils that support the protein and connect it to the surrounding matrix. The elastin gene encodes tropoelastin, a protein that requires extensive cross-linking to become elastin. Tropoelastin is expressed throughout human life, but its expression levels decrease with age, suggesting that the potential to synthesize elastin persists during lifetime although declines with aging. The initial abnormality documented in human atherosclerosis is fragmentation and loss of the elastic network in the medial layer of the arterial wall, suggesting an imbalance between elastic fiber injury and restoration. Damaged elastic structures are not adequately repaired by synthesis of new elastic elements. Progressive collagen accumulation follows medial elastic fiber disruption and fibrous plaques are formed, but advanced atherosclerosis lesions do not develop in the absence of prior elastic injury. Aging is associated with arterial extracellular matrix anomalies that evoke those present in early atherosclerosis. The reduction of elastic fibers with subsequent collagen accumulation leads to arterial stiffening and intima-media thickening, which are independent predictors of incident hypertension in prospective community-based studies. Arterial stiffening precedes the development of hypertension. The fundamental role of the vascular elastic network to arterial structure and function is emphasized by congenital disorders caused by mutations that disrupt normal elastic fiber production. Molecular changes in the genes coding tropoelastin, lysyl oxidase (tropoelastin cross-linking), and elastin-associated microfibrils, including fibrillin-1, fibulin-4, and fibulin-5 produce severe vascular injury due to absence of functional elastin.

Elastic fibers: formation, function, and fate during aging and disease

Elastic fibers are extracellular components of higher vertebrates and confer elasticity and resilience to numerous tissues and organs such as large blood vessels, lungs, and skin. Their formation and maturation take place in a complex multistage process called elastogenesis. It requires interactions between very different proteins but also other molecules and leads to the deposition and crosslinking of elastin's precursor on a scaffold of fibrillin-rich microfibrils. Mature fibers are exceptionally resistant to most influences and, under healthy conditions, retain their biomechanical function over the life of the organism. However, due to their longevity, they accumulate damages during aging. These are caused by proteolytic degradation, formation of advanced glycation end products, calcification, oxidative damage, aspartic acid racemization, lipid accumulation, carbamylation, and mechanical fatigue. The resulting changes can lead to diminution or complete loss of elastic fiber function and ultimately affect morbidity and mortality. Particularly, the production of elastokines has been clearly shown to influence several life-threatening diseases. Moreover, the structure, distribution, and abundance of elastic fibers are directly or indirectly influenced by a variety of inherited pathological conditions, which mainly affect organs and tissues such as skin, lungs, or the cardiovascular system. A distinction can be made between microfibril-related inherited diseases that are the result of mutations in diverse microfibril genes and indirectly affect elastogenesis, and elastinopathies that are linked to changes in the elastin gene. This review gives an overview on the formation, structure, and function of elastic fibers and their fate over the human lifespan in health and disease.

Tropoelastin and Elastin Assembly

Elastic fibers are an important component of the extracellular matrix, providing stretch, resilience, and cell interactivity to a broad range of elastic tissues. Elastin makes up the majority of elastic fibers and is formed by the hierarchical assembly of its monomer, tropoelastin. Our understanding of key aspects of the assembly process have been unclear due to the intrinsic properties of elastin and tropoelastin that render them difficult to study. This review focuses on recent developments that have shaped our current knowledge of elastin assembly through understanding the relationship between tropoelastin’s structure and function.

A guide to the composition and functions of the extracellular matrix

Extracellular matrix (ECM) is a dynamic 3-dimensional network of macromolecules that provides structural support for the cells and tissues. Accumulated knowledge clearly demonstrated over the last decade that ECM plays key regulatory roles since it orchestrates cell signaling, functions, properties and morphology. Extracellularly secreted as well as cell-bound factors are among the major members of the ECM family. Proteins/glycoproteins, such as collagens, elastin, laminins and tenascins, proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans, hyaluronan, and their cell receptors such as CD44 and integrins, responsible for cell adhesion, comprise a well-organized functional network with significant roles in health and disease. On the other hand, enzymes such as matrix metalloproteinases and specific glycosidases including heparanase and hyaluronidases contribute to matrix remodeling and affect human health. Several cell processes and functions, among them cell proliferation and survival, migration, differentiation, autophagy, angiogenesis, and immunity regulation are affected by certain matrix components. Structural alterations have been also well associated with disease progression. This guide on the composition and functions of the ECM gives a broad overview of the matrisome, the major ECM macromolecules, and their interaction networks within the ECM and with the cell surface, summarizes their main structural features and their roles in tissue organization and cell functions, and emphasizes the importance of specific ECM constituents in disease development and progression as well as the advances in molecular targeting of ECM to design new therapeutic strategies.

The evolutionary background and functional consequences of the rs2071307 polymorphism in human tropoelastin

Elastin is a major polymeric protein of the extracellular matrix, providing critical properties of extensibility and elastic recoil. The rs2071307 genomic polymorphism, resulting in the substitution of a serine for a glycine residue in a VPG motif in tropoelastin, has an unusually high minor allele frequency in humans. A consequence of such allelic heterozygosity would be the presence of a heterogeneous elastin polymer in up to 50% of the population, a situation which appears to be unique to Homo sapiens. VPG motifs are extremely common in hydrophobic domains of tropoelastins and are the sites of transient β-turns that are essential for maintaining the conformational flexibility required for its function as an entropic elastomer. Earlier data demonstrated that single amino acid substitutions in tropoelastin can have functional consequences for polymeric elastin, particularly when present in mixed polymers. Here, using NMR and molecular dynamics approaches, we show the rs2071307 polymorphism reduces local propensity for β-turn formation, with a consequent increase in polypeptide hydration and an expansion of the conformational ensemble manifested as an increased hydrodynamic radius, radius of gyration and asphericity. Furthermore, this substitution affects functional properties of polymeric elastin, particularly in heterogeneous polymers mimicking allelic heterozygosity. We discuss whether such effects, together with the unusually high minor allele frequency of the polymorphism, could imply some some evolutionary advantage for the heterozygous state.

Comparative Analysis of the Extracellular Matrix Proteome across the Myotendinous Junction

The myotendinous junction is a highly interdigitated interface designed to transfer muscle-generated force to tendon. Understanding how this interface is formed and organized, as well as identifying tendon- and muscle-specific extracellular matrix (ECM), is critical for designing effective regenerative therapies to restore functionality to damaged muscle-tendon units. However, a comparative analysis of the ECM proteome across this interface has not been conducted. The goal of this study was to resolve the distribution of ECM proteins that are uniformly expressed as well as those specific to each of the muscle, tendon, and junction tissues. The soleus muscles from 5-month-old wild-type C57BL/6 mice were harvested and dissected into the central muscle (M) away from tendon, the junction between muscle and tendon (J) and the tendon (T). Tissues were processed by either homogenizing in guanidine hydrochloride or fractionating to isolate the ECM from more soluble intracellular components and then analyzed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Overall, we found that both tissue processing methods generated similar ECM profiles. Many ECM were found across the muscle-tendon unit, including type I collagen and associated fibril-regulating proteins. The ECM identified exclusively in M were primarily related to the basal lamina, whereas those specific to T and J tissue included thrombospondins and other matricellular ECM. Type XXII collagen (COL22A1) was restricted to J, and we identified COL5A3 as a potential marker of the muscle-tendon interface. Immunohistochemical analysis of key proteins confirmed the restriction of some basal lamina proteins to M, tenascin-C to T, and COL22A1 to J. COL5A3, PRELP, and POSTN were visualized in the tissue surrounding the junction, suggesting that these proteins play a role in stabilizing the interface. This comparative map provides a guide for tissue-specific ECM that can facilitate the spatial visualization of M, J, and T tissues and inform musculoskeletal regenerative therapies.

A blackberry-dill extract combination synergistically increases skin elasticity

BACKGROUND

The loss of structural elastin due to intrinsic and extrinsic ageing results in the skin's inability to stretch and recoil (decrease in elasticity) and manifests as loss of skin firmness and sagging. While other extracellular matrix (ECM) components such as collagen and hyaluronic acid are continually synthesized and assembled through life, elastic fibres are not. Elastic fibre assembly and functionality require fibre cross-linking, induced by the lysyl oxidase-like (LOXL) enzymes, which sharply decrease during ageing.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the enhanced elastogenic effect of a blackberry-dill extract combination, which was hypothesized to induce elastin fibre component synthesis, fibre cross-linking and reduce elastin fibre degradation.

METHODS

The blackberry and the dill extracts were tested separately and in combination to confirm single ingredient bioactivity and synergistic benefits. Human skin explants, dermal fibroblasts, elastase assays, ELISAs, quantitative real-time PCRs and spectrofluorometer measurements were used. Moreover, a double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical study was carried out to assess skin elasticity using Cutometer and histologically from biopsies.

RESULTS

The blackberry extract induced elastin gene expression, elastin promoter activity and inhibited elastic fibre degradation by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) 9 and 12. The dill extract induced elastin, collagen and LOXL1 gene expression, resulting in enhanced fibre cross-linking in human skin explants. Clinically, the blackberry and dill combination treatment displayed synergistic pro-elasticity activity as compared to each ingredient alone and placebo.

CONCLUSION

Taken together, these results demonstrated the two multimodal plant-based extracts complemented each other in terms of bioactivity and resulted in a synergistic elastogenesis induction.

Expression of elastolytic cathepsins in human skin and their involvement in age-dependent elastin degradation

BACKGROUND

Skin ageing is associated with structure-functional changes in the extracellular matrix, which is in part caused by proteolytic degradation. Since cysteine cathepsins are major matrix protein-degrading proteases, we investigated the age-dependent expression of elastolytic cathepsins K, S, and V in human skin, their in vitro impact on the integrity of the elastic fibre network, their cleavage specificities, and the release of bioactive peptides.

METHODS

Cathepsin-mediated degradation of human skin elastin samples was assessed from young to very old human donors using immunohistochemical and biochemical assays, scanning electron microscopy, and mass spectrometry.

RESULTS

Elastin samples derived from patients between 10 and 86 years of age were analysed and showed an age-dependent deterioration of the fibre structure from a dense network of thinner fibrils into a beaded and porous mesh. Reduced levels of cathepsins K, S, and V were observed in aged skin with a predominant epidermal expression. Cathepsin V was the most potent elastase followed by cathepsin K and S. Biomechanical analysis of degraded elastin fibres corroborated the destructive activity of cathepsins. Mass spectrometric determination of the cleavage sites in elastin revealed that all three cathepsins predominantly cleaved in hydrophobic domains. The degradation of elastin was efficiently inhibited by an ectosteric inhibitor. Furthermore, the degradation of elastin fibres resulted in the release of bioactive peptides, which have previously been associated with various pathologies.

CONCLUSION

Cathepsins are powerful elastin-degrading enzymes and capable of generating a multitude of elastokines. They may represent a viable target for intervention strategies to reduce skin ageing.

Unique molecular networks: Formation and role of elastin cross-links

Elastic fibers are essential assemblies of vertebrates and confer elasticity and resilience to various organs including blood vessels, lungs, skin, and ligaments. Mature fibers, which comprise a dense and insoluble elastin core and a microfibrillar mantle, are extremely resistant toward intrinsic and extrinsic influences and maintain elastic function over the human lifespan in healthy conditions. The oxidative deamination of peptidyl lysine to peptidyl allysine in elastin's precursor tropoelastin is a crucial posttranslational step in their formation. The modification is catalyzed by members of the family of lysyl oxidases and the starting point for subsequent manifold condensation reactions that eventually lead to the highly cross-linked elastomer. This review summarizes the current understanding of the formation of cross-links within and between the monomer molecules, the molecular sites, and cross-link types involved and the pathological consequences of abnormalities in the cross-linking process.

Lysyl oxidases: from enzyme activity to extracellular matrix cross-links

The lysyl oxidase family comprises five members in mammals, lysyl oxidase (LOX) and four lysyl oxidase like proteins (LOXL1-4). They are copper amine oxidases with a highly conserved catalytic domain, a lysine tyrosylquinone cofactor, and a conserved copper-binding site. They catalyze the first step of the covalent cross-linking of the extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins collagens and elastin, which contribute to ECM stiffness and mechanical properties. The role of LOX and LOXL2 in fibrosis, tumorigenesis, and metastasis, including changes in their expression level and their regulation of cell signaling pathways, have been extensively reviewed, and both enzymes have been identified as therapeutic targets. We review here the molecular features and three-dimensional structure/models of LOX and LOXLs, their role in ECM cross-linking, and the regulation of their cross-linking activity by ECM proteins, proteoglycans, and by inhibitors. We also make an overview of the major ECM cross-links, because they are the ultimate molecular readouts of LOX/LOXL activity in tissues. The recent 3D model of LOX, which recapitulates its known structural and biochemical features, will be useful to decipher the molecular mechanisms of LOX interaction with its various substrates, and to design substrate-specific inhibitors, which are potential antifibrotic and antitumor drugs.