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Goldschagg MGE, Hockman D. FGF18. Differentiation 2023:100735. [PMID: 38007374 DOI: 10.1016/j.diff.2023.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Revised: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 11/27/2023]
Abstract
FGF18 was discovered in 1998. It is a pleiotropic growth factor that stimulates major signalling pathways involved in cell proliferation and growth, and is involved in the development and homeostasis of many tissues such as bone, lung, and central nervous system. The gene consists of five exons that code for a 207 amino acid glycosylated protein. FGF18 is widely expressed in developing and adult chickens, mice, and humans, being seen in the mesenchyme, brain, skeleton, heart, and lungs. Knockout studies of FGF18 in mice lead to perinatal death, characterised by distinct phenotypes such as cleft palate, smaller body size, curved long bones, deformed ribs, and reduced crania. As can be expected from a protein involved in so many functions FGF18 is associated with various diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, and most notably various types of cancer such as breast, lung, and ovarian cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael G E Goldschagg
- Division of Cell Biology, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Dorit Hockman
- Division of Cell Biology, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Neuroscience Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
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Jan Vilim, Ghazalova T, Petulova E, Horackova A, Stepankova V, Chaloupkova R, Bednar D, Damborsky J, Prokop Z. Computer-assisted stabilization of fibroblast growth factor FGF-18. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2023; 21:5144-5152. [PMID: 37920818 PMCID: PMC10618113 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2023.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2023] [Revised: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The fibroblast growth factors (FGF) family holds significant potential for addressing chronic diseases. Specifically, recombinant FGF18 shows promise in treating osteoarthritis by stimulating cartilage formation. However, recent phase 2 clinical trial results of sprifermin (recombinant FGF18) indicate insufficient efficacy. Leveraging our expertise in rational protein engineering, we conducted a study to enhance the stability of FGF18. As a result, we obtained a stabilized variant called FGF18-E4, which exhibited improved stability with 16 °C higher melting temperature, resistance to trypsin and a 2.5-fold increase in production yields. Moreover, the FGF18-E4 maintained mitogenic activity after 1-week incubation at 37 °C and 1-day at 50 °C. Additionally, the inserted mutations did not affect its binding to the fibroblast growth factor receptors, making FGF18-E4 a promising candidate for advancing FGF-based osteoarthritis treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Vilim
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
- Enantis Ltd., INBIT, Kamenice 34, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | | | - Eliska Petulova
- Enantis Ltd., INBIT, Kamenice 34, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Aneta Horackova
- Enantis Ltd., INBIT, Kamenice 34, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | | | | | - David Bednar
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
- International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Pekarska 53, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jiri Damborsky
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
- International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Pekarska 53, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Zbynek Prokop
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
- International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Pekarska 53, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
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Belgacemi R, Cherry C, El Alam I, Frauenpreis A, Glass I, Bellusci S, Danopoulos S, Al Alam D. Preferential FGF18/FGFR activity in pseudoglandular versus canalicular stage human lung fibroblasts. Front Cell Dev Biol 2023; 11:1220002. [PMID: 37701781 PMCID: PMC10493313 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1220002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling is necessary for proper lung branching morphogenesis, alveolarization, and vascular development. Dysregulation of FGF activity has been implicated in various lung diseases. Recently, we showed that FGF18 promotes human lung branching morphogenesis by regulating mesenchymal progenitor cells. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Thus, we aimed to determine the role of FGF18 and its receptors (FGFR) in regulating mesenchymal cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation from pseudoglandular to canalicular stage. We performed siRNA assays to identify the specific FGFR(s) associated with FGF18-induced biological processes. We found that FGF18 increased proliferation and migration in human fetal lung fibroblasts (HFLF) from both stages. FGFR2/FGFR4 played a significant role in pseudoglandular stage. HFLF proliferation, while FGFR3/FGFR4 were involved in canalicular stage. FGF18 enhanced HFLF migration through FGFR2 and FGFR4 in pseudoglandular and canalicular stage, respectively. Finally, we provide evidence that FGF18 treatment leads to reduced expression of myofibroblast markers (ACTA2 and COL1A1) and increased expression of lipofibroblast markers (ADRP and PPARγ) in both stages HFLF. However, the specific FGF18/FGFR complex involved in this process varies depending on the stage. Our findings suggest that in context of human lung development, FGF18 tends to associate with distinct FGFRs to initiate specific biological processes on mesenchymal cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Randa Belgacemi
- Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, United States
| | - Caroline Cherry
- Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, United States
| | - Imad El Alam
- Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, United States
| | - Andrew Frauenpreis
- Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, United States
| | - Ian Glass
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Saverio Bellusci
- Excellence Cluster Cardio-Pulmonary System (ECCPS), Universities of Giessen and Marburg Lung Center (UG-MLC), Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Giessen, Germany
| | - Soula Danopoulos
- Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Denise Al Alam
- Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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Tissue distribution of sprifermin (recombinant human fibroblast growth factor 18) in the rat following intravenous and intra-articular injection. OSTEOARTHRITIS AND CARTILAGE OPEN 2020; 2:100068. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ocarto.2020.100068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2020] [Accepted: 04/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
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Rudd TR, Preston MD, Yates EA. The nature of the conserved basic amino acid sequences found among 437 heparin binding proteins determined by network analysis. MOLECULAR BIOSYSTEMS 2018; 13:852-865. [PMID: 28317949 DOI: 10.1039/c6mb00857g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
In multicellular organisms, a large number of proteins interact with the polyanionic polysaccharides heparan sulphate (HS) and heparin. These interactions are usually assumed to be dominated by charge-charge interactions between the anionic carboxylate and/or sulfate groups of the polysaccharide and cationic amino acids of the protein. A major question is whether there exist conserved amino acid sequences for HS/heparin binding among these diverse proteins. Potentially conserved HS/heparin binding sequences were sought amongst 437 HS/heparin binding proteins. Amino acid sequences were extracted and compared using a Levenshtein distance metric. The resultant similarity matrices were visualised as graphs, enabling extraction of strongly conserved sequences from highly variable primary sequences while excluding short, core regions. This approach did not reveal extensive, conserved HS/heparin binding sequences, rather a number of shorter, more widely spaced sequences that may work in unison to form heparin-binding sites on protein surfaces, arguing for convergent evolution. Thus, it is the three-dimensional arrangement of these conserved motifs on the protein surface, rather than the primary sequence per se, which are the evolutionary elements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy R Rudd
- The National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC), Blanche Lane, South Mimms, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 3QG, UK.
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Xu J, Liu H, Lan Y, Aronow BJ, Kalinichenko VV, Jiang R. A Shh-Foxf-Fgf18-Shh Molecular Circuit Regulating Palate Development. PLoS Genet 2016; 12:e1005769. [PMID: 26745863 PMCID: PMC4712829 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005769] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2015] [Accepted: 12/03/2015] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Cleft palate is among the most common birth defects in humans. Previous studies have shown that Shh signaling plays critical roles in palate development and regulates expression of several members of the forkhead-box (Fox) family transcription factors, including Foxf1 and Foxf2, in the facial primordia. Although cleft palate has been reported in mice deficient in Foxf2, whether Foxf2 plays an intrinsic role in and how Foxf2 regulates palate development remain to be elucidated. Using Cre/loxP-mediated tissue-specific gene inactivation in mice, we show that Foxf2 is required in the neural crest-derived palatal mesenchyme for normal palatogenesis. We found that Foxf2 mutant embryos exhibit altered patterns of expression of Shh, Ptch1, and Shox2 in the developing palatal shelves. Through RNA-seq analysis, we identified over 150 genes whose expression was significantly up- or down-regulated in the palatal mesenchyme in Foxf2-/- mutant embryos in comparison with control littermates. Whole mount in situ hybridization analysis revealed that the Foxf2 mutant embryos exhibit strikingly corresponding patterns of ectopic Fgf18 expression in the palatal mesenchyme and concomitant loss of Shh expression in the palatal epithelium in specific subdomains of the palatal shelves that correlate with where Foxf2, but not Foxf1, is expressed during normal palatogenesis. Furthermore, tissue specific inactivation of both Foxf1 and Foxf2 in the early neural crest cells resulted in ectopic activation of Fgf18 expression throughout the palatal mesenchyme and dramatic loss of Shh expression throughout the palatal epithelium. Addition of exogenous Fgf18 protein to cultured palatal explants inhibited Shh expression in the palatal epithelium. Together, these data reveal a novel Shh-Foxf-Fgf18-Shh circuit in the palate development molecular network, in which Foxf1 and Foxf2 regulate palatal shelf growth downstream of Shh signaling, at least in part, by repressing Fgf18 expression in the palatal mesenchyme to ensure maintenance of Shh expression in the palatal epithelium. Cleft lip and/or cleft palate (CL/P) are among the most common birth defects in humans, occurring at a frequency of about 1 in 500–2500 live births. The etiology and pathogenesis of CL/P are complex and poorly understood. Generation and analysis of mice carrying targeted null and conditional mutations in many genes have revealed that functional disruption of each of more than 100 genes could cause cleft palate. However, how these genes work together to regulate palate development is not well understood. In this study, we identify a novel molecular circuit consisting of two critical molecular pathways, the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and Sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling pathways, and the Forkhead family transcription factors Foxf1 and Foxf2, mediating reciprocal epithelial-mesenchymal signaling interactions that control palatogenesis. As mutations affecting each of multiple components of both the FGF and SHH signaling pathways have been associated with CL/P in humans, our results provide significant new insight into the mechanisms regulating palatogenesis and cleft palate pathogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingyue Xu
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Han Liu
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Yu Lan
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Division of Plastic Surgery, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Bruce J. Aronow
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Division of Biomedical Informatics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Vladimir V. Kalinichenko
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Division of Pulmonary Biology, Perinatal Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Rulang Jiang
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Division of Plastic Surgery, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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