Bosco M.C. Chan
University of Western Ontario
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Featured researches published by Bosco M.C. Chan.
American Journal of Pathology | 2003
Shaohua Li; Caroline Van Den Diepstraten; Sudhir J.A. D'Souza; Bosco M.C. Chan; J. Geoffrey Pickering
Assembly of collagen into fibrils is widely studied as a spontaneous and entropy-driven process. To determine whether vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) impact the formation of collagen fibrils, we microscopically tracked the conversion of soluble to insoluble collagen in human SMC cultures, using fluorescent type I collagen at concentrations less than that which supported self-assembly. Collagen microaggregates were found to form on the cell surface, initially as punctate collections and then as an increasingly intricate network of fibrils. These fibrils displayed 67-nm periodicity and were found in membrane-delimited cellular invaginations. Fibril assembly was inhibited by an anti-α2β1 integrin antibody and accelerated by an α2β1 integrin antibody that stimulates a high-affinity binding state. Newly assembled collagen fibrils were also found to co-localize with newly assembled fibronectin fibrils. Moreover, inhibition of fibronectin assembly with an anti-α5β1 integrin antibody completely inhibited collagen assembly. Collagen fibril formation was also linked to the cytoskeleton. Fibrils formed on the stretched tails of SMCs, ran parallel to actin microfilament bundles, and formed poorly on SMCs transduced with retrovirus containing cDNA for dominant-negative RhoA and robustly on SMCs expressing constitutively active RhoA. Lysophosphatidic acid, which activates RhoA and stimulates fibronectin assembly, stimulated collagen fibril formation, establishing for the first time that collagen polymerization can be regulated by soluble agonists of cell function. Thus, collagen fibril formation is under close cellular control and is dynamically integrated with fibronectin assembly, opening new possibilities for modifying collagen deposition.
Angiogenesis | 2005
Zia A. Khan; Bosco M.C. Chan; Shashi Uniyal; Yousef P. Barbin; Hana Farhangkhoee; Shali Chen; Subrata Chakrabarti
Extra domain-B containing fibronectin (EDB+ FN), a recently proposed marker of angiogenesis, has been shown to be expressed in a number of human cancers and in ocular neovascularization in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy. To gain molecular understanding of the functional significance of EDB+ FN, we have investigated possible regulatory mechanisms of induction and its role in endothelial cell proliferation and angiogenesis. Human vascular endothelial cells were cultured in high levels of glucose, and fibrogenic growth factors, transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and endothelin-1 (ET-1). Our results show that high glucose levels, TGF-β1, and ET-1 upregulated EDB+ FN expression. Treatment of cells exposed to high glucose with TGF-β1 neutralizing antibody and ET receptor antagonist prevented high glucose-induced EDB+ FN expression. In order to elucidate the functional significance of EDB+ FN upregulation, cells were subjected to in vitro proliferation and angiogenesis assays following EDB peptide treatment and specific EDB+ FN gene silencing. Our results show that exposure of cells to EDB peptide increased vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, endothelial proliferation, and tube formation. Furthermore, specific EDB+ FN gene silencing prevented both basal and high glucose-induced VEGF expression and reduced the proliferative capacity of endothelial cells. In conclusion, these results indicate that EDB+ FN is involved in endothelial cell proliferation and vascular morphogenesis, findings which may provide novel avenues for the development of anti-angiogenic therapies.
American Journal of Pathology | 2000
J. Geoffrey Pickering; Lawrence H. Chow; Shaohua Li; Kem A. Rogers; Edward Rocnik; Robert Zhong; Bosco M.C. Chan
Fibronectin is secreted from the cell as a soluble protein that must then polymerize to regulate cell function. To elucidate the process of fibronectin matrix assembly in vascular disease, we immunostained sections of balloon-injured rat carotid artery for the fibronectin-binding α5β1 integrin. Whereas α5β1 integrin was not evident in the normal carotid artery, its expression was induced after a vascular injury. By 14 days, the α5β1 integrin was localized exclusively to the less differentiated smooth muscle cells (SMCs) at the luminal surface of the neointima. Platelet-derived growth factor-BB, dominant in neointimal formation, selectively increased the expression of the α5β1 integrin by human SMCs in culture. To track the assembly of fibronectin fibers, fluorescence-labeled soluble fibronectin protomers were added to cultured SMCs and to fresh segments of normal and balloon-injured rat carotid arteries. Fibronectin fiber formation in cultured SMCs could be detected within 10 minutes, and was blocked by an RGD peptide, an anti-β1 integrin antibody, and an anti-α5β1 integrin antibody, but not by an anti-β3 integrin antibody. En face confocal microscopy of arterial segments revealed that soluble fibronectin had polymerized on the α5β1 integrin-expressing SMCs of the luminal surface of the injured arterial neointima, but not on the α5β1 integrin-negative neointimal SMCs below this or on the endothelial cells of uninjured arteries. Furthermore, in situ fibronectin assembly by the neointimal SMCs was inhibited by an RGD peptide and by an anti-β1 integrin antibody. These studies indicate that a subpopulation of SMCs in the repairing artery wall orchestrates integrin-mediated fibronectin assembly.
Journal of Immunology | 2008
Soon Duck Ha; Andrew Martins; Khashayarsha Khazaie; Jiahuai Han; Bosco M.C. Chan; Sung Ouk Kim
TNF-α is a potent proinflammatory cytokine, essential for initiating innate immune responses against invading microbes and a key mediator involved in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. To identify molecules involved in the production of TNF-α, we used a functional gene identification method using retroviral integration-mediated mutagenesis, followed by LPS-stimulated TNF-α production analysis in macrophages. We found that cathepsin B, a lysosomal cysteine proteinase, was required for optimal posttranslational processing of TNF-α in response to the bacterial cell wall component LPS. Mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages from cathepsin B-deficient mice and macrophages treated with the cathepsin B-specific chemical inhibitor CA074 methyl ester or small interfering RNA against cathepsin B secreted significantly less TNF-α than wild-type or nontreated macrophages. We further showed that the inhibition of cathepsin B caused accumulation of 26-kDa pro-TNF-containing vesicles. Ectopic expression of GFP-conjugated pro-TNF further suggests that pro-TNF failed to reach the plasma membrane without intracellular cathepsin B activity. Altogether, these data suggest that intracellular cathepsin B activity is involved in the TNF-α-containing vesicle trafficking to the plasma membrane.
Circulation Research | 2009
Matthew J. Frontini; Caroline O'Neil; Cynthia G. Sawyez; Bosco M.C. Chan; Murray W. Huff; J. Geoffrey Pickering
A vital role of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) is to stabilize the artery wall by elaborating fibrils of type I collagen. This is especially important in atherosclerotic lesions. However, SMCs in these lesions can be laden with lipids and the impact of this modification on collagen fibril formation is unknown. To address this, we converted human vascular SMCs to a foam cell state by incubating them with either LDL or VLDL. Biochemical markers of a SMC phenotype were preserved. However, microscopic tracking revealed a profound perturbation in the ability of the cells to assemble collagen fibrils, reducing assembly by up to 79%. This dysfunction was mirrored by an inability of smooth muscle foam cells to assemble fibronectin. Lipid-loaded SMCs did not display a generalized defect in the actin cytoskeleton and the formation of vinculin-containing focal adhesion complexes was preserved. However, lipid-loaded SMCs were unable to assemble fibrillar adhesion complexes and clustering of tensin and α5β1 integrin was disordered. Moreover, phosphorylation of tensin, required for fibrillar adhesion complex formation, was suppressed by up to 57%, with a concomitant decrease in activation of Src and FAK and restriction of activated Src to the cell edges. Forced activation of Src-FAK signaling in lipid-engorged SMCs rescued both fibrillar adhesion formation and fibrillogenesis. We conclude that lipid accumulation by SMCs disables the machinery for collagen and fibronectin assembly. This previously unknown relationship between atherogenic lipids and integrin-based signaling could underlie plaque vulnerability.
Journal of Cellular Biochemistry | 2009
Angela Y. Hui; Jalna Meens; Colleen Schick; Shawna Organ; Hui Qiao; Eric Tremblay; Erik Schaeffer; Shashi Uniyal; Bosco M.C. Chan; Bruce E. Elliott
Cell–matrix adhesion has been shown to promote activation of the hepatocyte growth factor receptor, Met, in a ligand‐independent manner. This process has been linked to transformation and tumorigenesis in a variety of cancer types. In the present report, we describe a key role of integrin signaling via the Src/FAK axis in the activation of Met in breast epithelial and carcinoma cells. Expression of an activated Src mutant in non‐neoplastic breast epithelial cells or in carcinoma cells was found to increase phosphorylation of Met at regulatory tyrosines in the auto‐activation loop domain, correlating with increased cell spreading and filopodia extensions. Furthermore, phosphorylated Met is complexed with β1 integrins and is co‐localized with vinculin and FAK at focal adhesions in epithelial cells expressing activated Src. Conversely, genetic or pharmacological inhibition of Src abrogates constitutive Met phosphorylation in carcinoma cells or epithelial cells expressing activated Src, and inhibits filopodia formation. Interestingly, Src‐dependent phosphorylation of Met requires cell–matrix adhesion, as well as actin stress fiber assembly. Phosphorylation of FAK by Src is also required for Src‐induced Met phosphorylation, emphasizing the importance of the Src/FAK signaling pathway. However, stimulation of Met phosphorylation by addition of exogenous HGF in epithelial cells is refractory to inhibition of Src family kinases, indicating that HGF‐dependent and Src/integrin‐dependent Met activation occur via distinct mechanisms. Together these findings demonstrate a novel mechanism by which the Src/FAK axis links signals from the integrin adhesion complex to promote Met activation in breast epithelial cells. J. Cell. Biochem. 107: 1168–1181, 2009.
European Journal of Neuroscience | 1999
Rainer Probstmeier; Marion Michels; Thomas Franz; Bosco M.C. Chan; Penka Pesheva
Oligodendrocyte (OL) lineage progression is characterized by the transient expression of the disialoganglioside GD3 by OL precursor (preOL) cells followed by the sequential expression of myelin‐specific lipids and proteins. Whereas GD3+ preOLs are highly motile cells, the migratory capacity of OLs committed to terminal differentiation is strongly reduced, and we have recently shown that the extracellular matrix protein tenascin‐R (TN‐R) promotes the stable adhesion and differentiation of O4+ OLs by a sulphatide‐mediated autocrine mechanism (O4 is a monoclonal antibody recognizing sulphatides/seminolipids expressed by OLs and in myelin). Using culture conditions that allow the isolation of mouse OLs at distinct lineage stages, here we demonstrate that TN‐R is antiadhesive for GD3+ preOLs and inhibits their integrin‐dependent adhesion to fibronectin (FN) by a disialoganglioside‐mediated signalling mechanism affecting the tyrosine phosphorylation of the focal adhesion kinase. This responsive mechanism appears to be common to various cell types expressing disialogangliosides as: (i) disialogangliosides interfered with the inhibition of cell adhesion of different neural and non‐neural cells on substrata containing TN‐R and FN or RGD‐containing FN fragments. TN‐R interacted specifically with disialoganglioside‐expressing cells or immobilized gangliosides, and ganglioside treatment of TN‐R substrata resulted in a delayed preOL cell detachment as a function of time. We conclude that OL response to one and the same signal in the extracellular matrix critically depends on the molecular repertoire expressed by OLs at different lineage stages and could thus define their final positioning.
Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry | 2005
Wai-chi Ho; Shashi Uniyal; H. Zhou; Vincent L. Morris; Bosco M.C. Chan
In a previous study, we show that stimulation of chemotaxis in rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells by nerve growth factor (NGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) requires activation of the RAS-ERK signaling pathway. In this study, we compared the threshold levels of ERK activation required for EGF and NGF-stimulated chemotaxis in PC12 cells. The threshold ERK activity required for NGF to stimulate chemotaxis was approximately 30% lower than that for EGF. PD98059 treatment inhibited EGF stimulation of growth and chemotaxis; however, stimulation of chemotaxis required an EGF concentration approximately 10 times higher than for stimulation of PC12 cell growth. Thus, ERK-dependent cellular functions can be differentially elicited by the concentration of EGF. Also, treatment of PC12 cells with the PI3-K inhibitor LY294002 reduced ERK activation by NGF; thus, higher NGF concentrations were required to initiate chemotaxis and to achieve the same maximal chemotactic response seen in untreated PC12 cells. Therefore, the threshold NGF concentration to stimulate chemotaxis could be adjusted by the crosstalk between the ERK and PI3-K pathways, and the contributions of PI3-K and ERK to signal chemotaxis varied with the concentrations of NGF used. In comparison, LY294002 treatment had no effect on ERK activation by EGF, but the chemotactic response was reduced at all the concentrations of EGF tested indicating that NGF and EGF differed in the utilization of ERK and PI3-K to signal chemotaxis in PC12 cells. (Mol Cell Biochem 271: 29–41, 2005)
Journal of NeuroVirology | 2000
Kevin D. Holmes; Aly K Cassam; Bosco M.C. Chan; Andrew A. Peters; Lynne C. Weaver; Gregory A. Dekaban
To develop effective gene therapy techniques that target populations of neurons in the spinal cord, suitable vectors must be developed that will undergo efficient, retrograde transport from an appropriate peripheral site and will not be cytotoxic. Our previous work (LeVatte et al, 1998a) has demonstrated that a replication defective herpes simplex virus vector 14Hdelta3vhsZ, that has been substantially detoxified, is retrogradely transported from peripheral sites and can infect large numbers of the targeted spinal neurons. We plan to develop targeted gene therapy approaches designed to modulate the excitatory glutamatergic methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor in spinal cord neurons as a means of ameliorating a form of episodic high blood pressure that occurs after spinal cord injury. In this report, we demonstrate that, in differentiated PC12 cells, a neuronal-like cell line, the virus vector does not appear to alter aspects of the cytoskeletal architecture important to the proper distribution of the NMDA receptor. In turn, the distribution of endogenous NMDA receptor 1 subunit protein (NMDAR1) or a transfected NMDAR1-green fluorescent fusion protein was also found to be unaltered after vector infection. However, whereas endogenous NMDAR1 distribution was maintained, vector infection did tend to reduce the level of its expression. This drop in endogenous NMDAR1 expression coincided with the expression of the HSV immediate early genes ICP0 and ICP27 over the first 24-48 h. These results indicate that the 14Hdelta3vhsZ herpes simplex virus vector is suitable to use in future strategies to alter the level of gene expression in targeted populations of spinal cord neurons.
Wound Repair and Regeneration | 2007
Vincent L. Morris; Bosco M.C. Chan
Elevations of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and Ca2+ concentrations in the wound site are associated with reepithelialization during wound healing. In addition, Ca2+ and EGF can both induce increases in matrix metalloproteinase‐9 (MMP‐9) synthesis. However, little is known about the interplay of these events in regulating the migration properties of primary keratinocytes on collagen I, the most abundant extracellular matrix component in the skin. We found that EGF stimulated both chemokinetic and chemotactic migration of primary keratinocytes on collagen I; however, MMP‐9 was required for EGF‐stimulated chemotaxis but not EGF‐stimulated chemokinesis. Calcium at 0.5 mM stimulated chemokinetic migration of keratinocytes. Together, Ca2+ and EGF stimulated higher levels of chemokinesis than either stimulus alone. Furthermore, Ca2+ could restore the ability of keratinocytes from MMP‐9 null mice to undergo EGF‐stimulated chemotaxis. The phosphatidylinositol‐3 kinase inhibitor LY294002 inhibited both EGF‐ and Ca2+‐stimulated chemokinetic migration. In contrast, the MEK inhibitor PD98059 blocked Ca2+‐ but not EGF‐stimulated chemokinetic migration of keratinocytes. A combination of PD98059 and LY294002 was required to inhibit Ca2+ enhancement of EGF‐stimulated migration completely. Calcium‐stimulated chemokinesis was completely blocked by either the protein kinase C‐α inhibitor Gö6976 or the src/fyn inhibitor PP2. Using primary keratinocytes, our results showed how the combined action of Ca2+, EGF, and MMP‐9 regulated the contributions of extracellular‐regulated kinase and phosphatidylinositol‐3 kinase toward chemokinetic and chemotactic migration of keratinocytes.