Elucidating the Impact of Betaglycan Glycosaminoglycan Chain Modification on Ectodomain Shedding and Cell Signaling in Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

Proteoglycans (PG) are crucial components of the cell surface and extracellular matrix, acting as critical effectors of cellular homeostasis and cancer pathogenesis. Betaglycan (BG) is a ubiquitously expressed transmembrane PG containing a core protein domain with glycosaminoglycan (GAG) attachment sites at S534/S545 residues on its extracellular domain, to which heparan sulfate (HS) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) chains are covalently attached. BG is commonly referred to as a “part-time proteoglycan” since BG can be expressed on the cell surface with or without GAG chain modifications. BG's ectodomain can also be shed (shed-BG) from the cell surface to release a soluble form. BG is an established co-receptor for the TGF-β superfamily that modulates signaling of TGF-β members both at the cell surface and via the shed form as has been previously reported in breast cancer. Although majority of the prior work has focused on BG's core protein interactions and functions, a thorough understanding of the effects of the BG GAG chains remains lacking. We find in preliminary studies, elevated shed-BG in the ascites fluid of ovarian cancer (OVCA) patients compared to circulating levels in healthy individuals. Interestingly, analysis of the GAG chains on shed-BG from ascites fluid indicates majority of shed-BG in patient sample to be heavily modified with a higher degree of CS modification as compared to HS modifications on BG. Given the gap in knowledge on BG GAG chain functions and our observations in patients, I hypothesize that the GAG chains of BG may impact shedding and cell signaling that regulates ovarian cancer growth and metastasis. To examine the effect of GAG modifications on shedding of BG, we constructed point mutations at S534/S545 to abrogate GAG chain attachment sites on BG. These constructs were expressed in a panel of OVCA cell lines generating cell lines expressing either 1: Wild Type BG (BG-FL), 2: S534A (BG-CS), 3: S545A (BG-HS) or 4: S534A, S545A double mutant designated (∆GAG). Cellular expression of BG constructs confirmed the alterations in BG GAG chains. Evaluation of shedding of BG revealed a significant reduction in BG shedding from cells expressing unmodified BG (∆GAG) compared to cells expressing GAG modified BG despite no change in cell surface expression. To next evaluate the impact of expression of GAG modified BG on tumor cell biology, in vitro cell proliferation, cell invasion and migration assays were conducted. We find that both cell proliferation and invasion of BG-CS and BG-HS mutants were significantly lower as compared to BG-∆GAG mutant. These findings together suggest distinct roles for the different modified forms of BG in promoting BG shedding from the cell surface and tumor cell behavior. Additional data on the effect of BG chain modification on TGF-β, Wnt, and FGF2 signaling modulation will also be presented. Based on our findings we propose that the, GAG chains of BG regulate core protein shedding and growth factor signaling thereby impacting OVCA cell biology.