We have previously shown that the LG4 (laminin G-like) domain of the laminin alpha4 chain is responsible for the significantly higher affinity of the alpha4 chain to heparin than found for other alpha chains [Yamaguchi, Yamashita, Mori, Okazaki, Nomizu, Beck and Kitagawa (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 29458-29465]; four basic residues were identified to be essential for this activity [Yamashita, Be...

Proteoglycan assembly in malignant tumours is subject to profound changes. The significance of these alterations is not well understood; especially, their role in nuclear regulation is a topic for debate. The capacity of heparin and liver carcinoma heparan sulphate (HS) to alter DNA-transcription factor interactions has been studied to provide further evidence concerning the regulatory potentia...

Slit proteins are secreted ligands that interact with the Roundabout (Robo) receptors to provide important guidance cues in neuronal and vascular development. Slit-Robo signalling is mediated by an interaction between the second Slit domain and the first Robo domain, as well as being dependent on heparan sulphate. In an effort to understand the role of the other Slit domains in signalling, we d...

Heparan sulphate and dermatan sulphate have both antithrombotic and anticoagulant properties. These are, however, significantly weaker than those of a comparable amount of standard pig mucosal heparin. Antithrombotic and anticoagulant effects of glycosaminoglycans depend on their ability to catalyse the inhibition of thrombin and/or to inhibit the activation of prothrombin. Since heparan sulpha...

Cultured mouse mammary (NMuMG) cells produce heparan sulfate-rich proteoglycans that are found at the cell surface, in the culture medium, and beneath the monolayer. The cell surface proteoglycan consists of a lipophilic membrane-associated domain and an extracellular domain, or ectodomain, that contains both heparan and chondroitin sulfate chains. During culture, the cells release into the med...

Proteoglycan monomers from pig laryngeal cartilage were examined by electron microscopy with benzyldimethylalkylammonium chloride as the spreading agent. The proteoglycans appeared as extended molecules with a beaded structure, representing the chondroitin sulphate chains collapsed around the protein core. Often a fine filamentous tail was present at one end. Substructures within proteoglycan m...

Receptor-mediated endocytosis of decorin depends on its core-protein-mediated interaction with a 51 kDa membrane protein, which, in addition to its core-protein-binding site, carries a binding site for glycosaminoglycan chains. Membrane-associated heparan sulphate as well as heparin are known to have an inhibitory effect on decorin endocytosis by cultured skin fibroblasts. In this study, struct...

1. Urinary glycosaminoglycans were recovered from the papain digest of polyanions precipitated sequentially by cetylpyridinium chloride and sodium acetate-saturated ethanol. Those from the early morning urine of 48 stone formers and 43 normal control subjects measured 11 and 16 micrograms of uronic acid/ml of urine, respectively. 2. Preparative agarose gel electrophoresis of the recovered glyco...