Angiosarcomas apparently derive from blood vessel endothelial cells; however, occasionally their histological features suggest mixed origin from blood and lymphatic endothelia. In the absence of specific positive markers for lymphatic endothelia the precise distinction between these components has not been possible. Here we provide evidence by light and electron microscopic immunohistochemistry that podoplanin, a approximately 38-kd membrane glycoprotein of podocytes, is specifically expressed in the endothelium of lymphatic capillaries, but not in the blood vasculature. In normal skin and kidney, podoplanin colocalized with vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3, the only other lymphatic marker presently available. Complementary immunostaining of blood vessels was obtained with established endothelial markers (CD31, CD34, factor VIII-related antigen, and Ulex europaeus I lectin) as well as podocalyxin, another podocytic protein that is also localized in endothelia of blood vessels. Podoplanin specifically immunolabeled endothelia of benign tumorous lesions of undisputed lymphatic origin (lymphangiomas, hygromas) and was detected there as a 38-kd protein by immunoblotting. As paradigms of malignant vascular tumors, poorly differentiated (G3) common angiosarcomas (n = 8), epitheloid angiosarcomas (n = 3), and intestinal Kaposi's sarcomas (n = 5) were examined for their podoplanin content in relation to conventional endothelial markers. The relative number of tumor cells expressing podoplanin was estimated and, although the number of cases in this preliminary study was limited to 16, an apparent spectrum of podoplanin expression emerged that can be divided into a low-expression group in which 0-10% of tumor cells contained podoplanin, a moderate-expression group with 30-60% and a high-expression group with 70-100%. Ten of eleven angiosarcomas and all Kaposi's sarcomas showed mixed expression of both lymphatic and blood vascular endothelial phenotypes. By double labeling, most podoplanin-positive tumor cells coexpressed endothelial markers of blood vessels, whereas few tumor cells were positive for individual markers only. From these results we conclude that (1) podoplanin is a selective marker of lymphatic endothelium; (2) G3 angiosarcomas display a quantitative spectrum of podoplanin-expressing tumor cells; (3) in most angiosarcomas, a varying subset of tumor cells coexpresses podoplanin and endothelial markers of blood vessels; and (4) all endothelial cells of Kaposi's sarcomas expressed the lymphatic marker podoplanin.

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor‐3 (VEGFR‐3/Flt4) binds two known members of the VEGF ligand family, VEGF‐C and VEGF‐D, and has a critical function in the remodelling of the primary capillary vasculature of midgestation embryos. Later during development, VEGFR‐3 regulates the growth and maintenance of the lymphatic vessels. In the present study, we have isolated and cultured stable lineages of blood vascular and lymphatic endothelial cells from human primary microvascular endothelium by using antibodies against the extracellular domain of VEGFR‐3. We show that VEGFR‐3 stimulation alone protects the lymphatic endothelial cells from serum deprivation‐induced apoptosis and induces their growth and migration. At least some of these signals are transduced via a protein kinase C‐dependent activation of the p42/p44 MAPK signalling cascade and via a wortmannin‐sensitive induction of Akt phosphorylation. These results define the critical role of VEGF‐C/VEGFR‐3 signalling in the growth and survival of lymphatic endothelial cells. The culture of isolated lymphatic endothelial cells should now allow further studies of the molecular properties of these cells.

A protein binding to a minor-group human rhinovirus (HRV2) was purified from HeLa cell culture supernatant. The amino acid sequences of tryptic peptides showed identity with the human low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor (LDLR). LDL and HRV2 mutually competed for binding sites on human fibroblasts. Cells down-regulated for LDLR expression yielded much less HRV2 upon infection than cells with up-regulated LDLR. Virus also bound to the large subunit of the a2-macroglobulin receptor/LDLRrelated protein (a2MR/LRP). LDLR-deficient fibroblasts yielded considerably less virus in the presence of receptorassociated protein (RAP), providing evidence that a2MR/LRP also acts as a minor group HRV receptor.Common colds most frequently arise through infection with human rhinoviruses (HRVs). The 102 antigenically distinct serotypes are divided into two groups based on receptor specificity (1, 2). The major group binds to the intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) (3)(4)(5), and the minor group has been shown to attach to a membrane protein with a relative molecular mass of about 120 kDa (6, 7). ICAM-1 and the poliovirus receptor (8) are members of the immunoglobulin superfamily. As the three-dimensional structures of representative HRVs from the two different receptor groups (9, 10) and of poliovirus (11) show considerable similarity, it might have been expected that the minor group receptor would also belong to this family. However, in this communication we present evidence that minor-group HRVs gain access to the cell via members of the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor (LDLR) family (12,13). MATERIALS AND METHODSPurification of HRV2-Binding Protein. Two hundred liters of HeLa cell culture supernatant were concentrated ten times by ultrafiltration, dialyzed against 250 liters of H20 containing 0.02% NaN3, and adjusted to contain 20 mM N-methylpiperazine hydrochloride (pH 4.5). Precipitated material was removed, and the filtered supernatant was applied to a 0.5-liter Macroprep 50 Q column (Bio-Rad). Bound material was eluted with the same buffer containing 0.5 M NaCl. After adjustment to pH 7.2 with 1 M Tris HCl (pH 8), the material was loaded onto a 100-ml Lens culinaris lectin column (Pharmacia), and bound protein was eluted with phosphatebuffered saline (PBS) containing 0.5 M a-D-methyl glucopyranoside and precipitated with (NH4)2SO4 at 50o saturation. The precipitate was dissolved in 200 ml of PBS, the solution was passed over a 40-ml Jacalin agarose column (Vector Laboratories), and bound protein was eluted with 120 ml of 0.1 M a-D-methyl galactopyranoside in PBS and precipitated with (NH4)2SO4 as above. The precipitate was dissolved in 20 mM N-methylpiperazine hydrochloride (pH 4.5) and desalted on a PD-10 column (Pharmacia). Protein was applied onto a Mono Q HR 5/5 column (Pharmacia) and eluted with a gradient of 0-0.5 M NaCl in the same buffer. The binding activity was monitored throughout the purification procedure on ligand blots (7). Active fractions were concentrated to 1.5 ml with a Centricon-30...

A mammalian cell infected with a human rhinovirus or enterovirus has a much reduced capability to translate capped mRNAs (the host cell shutoff), while still allowing translation of uncapped viral RNA. Biochemical and genetic evidence suggests that the viral proteinase 2A induces cleavage of the eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4 gamma (also known as p220) component of eIF-4 (formerly called eIF-4F). However, neither the mechanism underlying the specific proteolysis of eIF-4 gamma nor the influence of this cleavage on the translation of capped mRNAs has been clarified. Such studies have been hampered by a lack of large quantities of a purified 2A proteinase. Therefore, the mature proteinases 2A of human rhinovirus 2 and coxsackievirus B4 were expressed in soluble form in Escherichia coli. A four-step purification protocol was developed; 1 mg of highly purified 2A proteinase per gram wet weight of E. coli was obtained. Both enzymes cleaved directly eIF-4 gamma as part of the purified eIF-4 complex. Addition of HRV2 2A proteinase to HeLa cell cytoplasmic translation extracts resulted in eIF-4 gamma cleavage and drastically reduced the translation of capped mRNA; addition of purified eIF-4 restored translation to the initial level. However, translation of a reporter gene driven by the 5'-untranslated region of human rhinovirus 2 was translated 2-3-fold more efficiently in the presence of HRV2 2A proteinase.

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