Integrin Localized at Endothelial Lateral Junctions

Cell-to-cell junction structures play a key role in cell growth rate control and cell polarization. In endothelial cells (EC), these structures are also involved in regulation of vascular permeability and leukocyte extravasation. To identify novel components in EC intercellular junctions, mAbs against these cells were produced and selected using a morphological screening by immunofluorescence microscopy. Two novel mAbs, LIA1/1 and VJ1/16, specifically recognized a 25-kD protein that was selectively localized at cell–cell junctions of EC, both in the primary formation of cell monolayers and when EC reorganized in the process of wound healing. This antigen corresponded to the recently cloned platelet-endothelial tetraspan antigen CD151/PETA-3 (platelet-endothelial tetraspan antigen-3), and was consistently detected at EC cell–cell contact sites. In addition to CD151/PETA-3, two other members of the tetraspan superfamily, CD9 and CD81/ TAPA-1 (target of antiproliferative antibody-1), localized at endothelial cell-to-cell junctions. Biochemical analysis demonstrated molecular associations among tetraspan molecules themselves and those of CD151/ PETA-3 and CD9 with a 3 b 1 integrin. Interestingly, mAbs directed to both CD151/PETA-3 and CD81/ TAPA-1 as well as mAb specific for a 3 integrin, were able to inhibit the migration of ECs in the process of wound healing. The engagement of CD151/PETA-3 and CD81/TAPA-1 inhibited the movement of individual ECs, as determined by quantitative time-lapse video microscopy studies. Furthermore, mAbs against the CD151/PETA-3 molecule diminished the rate of EC invasion into collagen gels. In addition, these mAbs were able to increase the adhesion of EC to extracellular matrix proteins. Together these results indicate that CD81/TAPA-1 and CD151/PETA-3 tetraspan molecules are components of the endothelial lateral junctions implicated in the regulation of cell motility, either directly or by modulation of the function of the associated integrin heterodimers. I ntercellular adhesion structures provide, by means of transmembrane proteins selectively localized at the sites of cell–cell contact, the physical strength necessary to build up solid tissues interconnecting the cytoskeleton from the different cells. Junctional structures are also responsible for the polarization of certain cell types, determining different functional subdomains along the plasma membrane, each containing a defined subset of proteins. Tight junctions, composed by the transmembrane protein occludin (Furuse et al., 1993) coupled to cytoplasmic proteins ZO-1, ZO-2, 7H6, cingulin, and symplekin (Keon et al., 1996; for review see Schneeberger et al., 1992; Anderson et al., 1993; Citi 1993), are directly involved in restricting the lateral diffusion of proteins along the plane of the plasma membrane. Adherens junctions, formed by different cadherins (reviewed in Takeichi, 1990; Geiger and Ayalon, 1992; Dejana 1996) linked to the actin cytoskeleton by catenins (Tsukita et al., 1992; Kemler 1993; Cowin and Burke, 1996), initiate cell–cell contacts, nucleate the formation of other junctional structures (Gumbiner et al., 1988), and regulate the expression of the genes involved in the polarized phenotype (McNeill et al., 1990; Marrs et al., 1995). Focal adhesions, in which integrins are the transmembrane adhesion moiety, are mainly responsible for adhesion to the extracellular matrix (Jockusch et al., 1995), which may be sufficient for the establishment of some of the characteristics of a polarized cell phenotype (Drubin Address all correspondence to F. Sánchez-Madrid, Servicio de Inmunología, Hospital de la Princesa, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, Spain. Tel.: 34-1-4023347. Fax: 34-1-3092496. E-mail: fsmadrid/ [email protected] on S etem er 3, 2017 jcb.rress.org D ow nladed fom