Expression of the alpha 5 integrin gene in corneal epithelial cells cultured on tissue-engineered human extracellular matrices

The integrin alpha 5 beta 1 plays a major role in corneal wound healing by promoting epithelial cell adhesion and migration over the fibronectin matrix secreted as a cellular response to corneal damage. Expression of alpha 5 is induced when rabbit corneal epithelial cells (RCECs) are grown in the pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biomaterials 2013-09, Vol.34 (27), p.6367-6376
Main Authors: Lake, Jennifer, Zaniolo, Karine, Gaudreault, Manon, Carrier, Patrick, Deschambault, Alexandre, Bazin, Richard, Germain, Lucie, Salesse, Christian, Guerin, Sylvain L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomaterials
Biomedical materials
Fibronectin
Gene expression
Genes
Human
Surgical implants
Wound healing
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Summary:The integrin alpha 5 beta 1 plays a major role in corneal wound healing by promoting epithelial cell adhesion and migration over the fibronectin matrix secreted as a cellular response to corneal damage. Expression of alpha 5 is induced when rabbit corneal epithelial cells (RCECs) are grown in the presence of fibronectin. Here, we examined whether alpha 5 expression is similarly altered when RCECs or human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs) are grown on a reconstructed stromal matrix used as an underlying biomaterial. Mass spectrometry and immunofluorescence analyses revealed that the biomaterial matrix produced by culturing human corneal fibroblasts with ascorbic acid (ECM/35d) contains several types of collagens, fibronectin, tenascin and proteoglycans. Results from transfection of CAT/ alpha 5-promoter plasmids, Western blot and EMSA analyses indicated that ECM/35d significantly increase expression of alpha 5 in HCECs as a result of alteration in the expression and DNA binding of the transcription factors NFI, Sp1, AP-1 and PAX6. The biological significance of this biomaterial substitute on the expression of the alpha 5 gene may therefore contribute to better understand the function played by the alpha 5 beta 1 integrin during corneal wound healing.
ISSN:0142-9612
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2013.05.007