Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) regulate ductal morphogenesis, apoptosis, and neoplastic progression in mammary epithelial cells. To elucidate the direct effects of MMPs on mammary epithelium, we generated functionally normal cells expressing an inducible autoactivating stromelysin-1 (SL-1) transgene. Induction of SL-1 expression resulted in cleavage of E-cadherin, and triggered progressive phenotypic conversion characterized by disappearance of E-cadherin and catenins from cell–cell contacts, downregulation of cytokeratins, upregulation of vimentin, induction of keratinocyte growth factor expression and activation, and upregulation of endogenous MMPs. Cells expressing SL-1 were unable to undergo lactogenic differentiation and became invasive. Once initiated, this phenotypic conversion was essentially stable, and progressed even in the absence of continued SL-1 expression. These observations demonstrate that inappropriate expression of SL-1 initiates a cascade of events that may represent a coordinated program leading to loss of the differentiated epithelial phenotype and gain of some characteristics of tumor cells. Our data provide novel insights into how MMPs function in development and neoplastic conversion.

Reduced ligand binding activity of alpha-dystroglycan is associated with muscle and central nervous system pathogenesis in a growing number of muscular dystrophies. Posttranslational processing of alpha-dystroglycan is generally accepted to be critical for the expression of functional dystroglycan. Here we show that both the N-terminal domain and a portion of the mucin-like domain of alpha-dystroglycan are essential for high-affinity laminin-receptor function. Posttranslational modification of alpha-dystroglycan by glycosyltransferase, LARGE, occurs within the mucin-like domain, but the N-terminal domain interacts with LARGE, defining an intracellular enzyme-substrate recognition motif necessary to initiate functional glycosylation. Gene replacement in dystroglycan-deficient muscle demonstrates that the dystroglycan C-terminal domain is sufficient only for dystrophin-glycoprotein complex assembly, but to prevent muscle degeneration the expression of a functional dystroglycan through LARGE recognition and glycosylation is required. Therefore, molecular recognition of dystroglycan by LARGE is a key determinant in the biosynthetic pathway to produce mature and functional dystroglycan.

Abstract. The role of integrins in muscle differentiation was addressed by ectopic expression of integrin o~ subunits in primary quail skeletal muscle, a culture system particularly amenable to efficient transfection and expression of exogenous genes. Ectopic expression of either the human a5 subunit or the chicken et6 subunit produced contrasting phenotypes. The ot5-transfected myoblasts remain in the proliferative phase and are differentiation inhibited even in confluent cultures. In contrast, myoblasts that overexpress the or6 subunit exhibit inhibited proliferation and substantial differentiation. Antisense suppression of endogenous quail et6 expression inhibits myoblast differentiation resulting in sustained proliferation. These effects of ectopic a subunit expression are mediated, to a large extent, by the cytoplasmic domains. Ectopic expression of chimeric a subunits, ct5ex/6cyto and a6ex/5¢yto, produced phenotypes opposite to those observed with ectopic or5 or or6 expression. Myoblasts that express a5ex/6mo show decreased proliferation while differentiation is partially restored. In contrast, the et6ex/5¢yto transfectants remain in the proliferative phase unless allowed to become confluent for at least 24 h. Furthermore, expression of human ct5 subunit cytoplasmic domain truncations, before and after the conserved GFFKR motif, shows that this sequence is important in a5 regulation of differentiation. Ectopic c~5 and o~6 expression also results in contrasting responses to the mitogenic effects of serum growth factors. Myoblasts expressing the human et5 subunit differentiate only in the absence of serum while differentiation of untransfected and ot6-transfected myoblasts is insensitive to serum concentration. Addition of individual, exogenous growth factors to a5-transfected myoblasts results in unique responses that differ from their effects on untransfected ceils. Both bFGF or TGFI3 inhibit the serum-free differentiation of a5-transfected myoblasts, but differ in that bFGF stimulates proliferation whereas TGF-13 inhibits it. Insulin or TGF-ot promote proliferation and differentiation of ot5-transfected myoblasts; however, insulin alters myotube morphology. TGF-o~ or PDGF-BB enhance muscle ct-actinin organization into myofibrils, which is impaired in differentiated or5 cultures. With the exception of TGF-ot, these growth factor effects are not apparent in untransfected myoblasts. Finally, myoblast survival under serum-free conditions is enhanced by ectopic ct5 expression only in the presence of bFGF and insulin while TGF-et and TGF-~ promote survival of untransfected myoblasts. Our observations demonstrate (1) a specificity for integrin a subunits in regulating myoblast proliferation and differentiation; (2) that the ratio of integrin expression can affect the decision to proliferate or differentiate; (3) a role for the et subunit cytoplasmic domain in mediating proliferative and differentiative signals; and (4) the regulation of proliferation, differentiation, cytoskeletal assembly, and cell survival dep...

SUMMARY The tumor microenvironment plays a critical role in tumor growth, progression, and therapeutic resistance, but interrogating the role of specific tumor-stromal interactions on tumorigenic phenotypes is challenging within in vivo tissues. Here, we tested whether three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting could improve in vitro models by incorporating multiple cell types into scaffold-free tumor tissues with defined architecture. We generated tumor tissues from distinct subtypes of breast or pancreatic cancer in relevant microenvironments and demonstrate that this technique can model patient-specific tumors by using primary patient tissue. We assess intrinsic, extrinsic, and spatial tumorigenic phenotypes in bioprinted tissues and find that cellular proliferation, extracellular matrix deposition, and cellular migration are altered in response to extrinsic signals or therapies. Together, this work demonstrates that multi-cell-type bioprinted tissues can recapitulate aspects of in vivo neoplastic tissues and provide a manipulable system for the interrogation of multiple tumorigenic endpoints in the context of distinct tumor microenvironments.

Precise contact between epithelial cells and their underlying basement membrane is crucial to the maintenance of tissue architecture and function. To understand the role that the laminin receptor dystroglycan (DG) plays in these processes, we assayed cell responses to laminin-111 following conditional ablation of DG gene (Dag1) expression in cultured mammary epithelial cells. Strikingly, DG loss disrupted laminin-111-induced polarity and β-casein production, and abolished laminin assembly at the step of laminin binding to the cell surface. Dystroglycan re-expression restored these deficiencies. Investigations of the mechanism revealed that DG cytoplasmic sequences were not necessary for laminin assembly and signaling, and only when the entire mucin domain of extracellular DG was deleted did laminin assembly not occur. These results demonstrate that DG is essential as a laminin-111 co-receptor in mammary epithelial cells that functions by mediating laminin anchoring to the cell surface, a process that allows laminin polymerization, tissue polarity and β-casein induction. The observed loss of laminin-111 assembly and signaling in Dag1-/- mammary epithelial cells provides insights into the signaling changes occurring in breast carcinomas and other cancers, where the binding function of DG to laminin is frequently defective.

Alterations in the basement membrane receptor dystroglycan (DG) are evident in muscular dystrophies and carcinoma cells and characterized by a selective loss or modification of the extracellular ␣-DG subunit. Defects in posttranslational modifications of DG have been identified in some muscular dystrophies, but the underlying modifications in carcinoma cells have not yet been defined. We reveal here multiple posttranslational modifications that modulate the composition and function of DG in normal epithelial cells and carcinoma cells. We show that ␣-DG is shed from the cell surface of normal and tumorigenic epithelial cells through a proteolytic mechanism that does not require direct cleavage of either ␣-or ␤-DG. Shedding is dependent on metalloprotease activity and the proprotein convertase furin. Surprisingly, furin is also found to directly process ␣-DG as a proprotein substrate, changing the existing model of DG composition. We also show that the glycosylation of ␣-DG is altered in invasive carcinoma cells, and this modification causes complete loss of laminin binding properties. Together, these data elucidate several novel events regulating the functional composition of DG and reveal defects that arise during cancer progression, providing direction for efforts to restore this link with the basement membrane in carcinoma cells.

Epithelial cells, once dissociated and placed in two-dimensional (2D) cultures, rapidly lose tissue-specific functions. We showed previously that in addition to prolactin, signaling by laminin-111 was necessary to restore functional differentiation of mammary epithelia. Here, we elucidate two additional aspects of laminin-111 action. We show that in 2D cultures, the prolactin receptor is basolaterally localized and physically segregated from its apically placed ligand. Detachment of the cells exposes the receptor to ligation by prolactin leading to signal transducers and activators of transcription protein 5 (STAT5) activation, but only transiently and not sufficiently for induction of milk protein expression. We show that laminin-111 reorganizes mammary cells into polarized acini, allowing both the exposure of the prolactin receptor and sustained activation of STAT5. The use of constitutively active STAT5 constructs showed that the latter is necessary and sufficient for chromatin reorganization and β-casein transcription. These results underscore the crucial role of continuous laminin signaling and polarized tissue architecture in maintenance of transcription factor activation, chromatin organization, and tissue-specific gene expression.

Contact of cultured mammary epithelial cells with the basement membrane protein laminin induces multiple responses, including cell shape changes, growth arrest, and, in the presence of prolactin, transcription of the milk protein ␤-casein. We sought to identify the specific laminin receptor(s) mediating the multiple cell responses to laminin. Using assays with clonal mammary epithelial cells, we reveal distinct functions for the ␣6␤4 integrin, ␤1 integrins, and an E3 laminin receptor. Signals from laminin for ␤-casein expression were inhibited in the presence of functionblocking antibodies against both the ␣6 and ␤1 integrin subunits and by the laminin E3 fragment. The ␣6-blocking antibody perturbed signals mediated by the ␣6␤4 integrin, and the ␤1-blocking antibody perturbed signals mediated by another integrin, the ␣ subunit(s) of which remains to be determined. Neither ␣6-nor ␤1-blocking antibodies perturbed the cell shape changes resulting from cell exposure to laminin. However, the E3 laminin fragment and heparin both inhibited cell shape changes induced by laminin, thereby implicating an E3 laminin receptor in this function. These results elucidate the multiplicity of cell-extracellular matrix interactions required to integrate cell structure and signaling and ultimately permit normal cell function. INTRODUCTIONCell contact with the extracellular matrix (ECM) serves as a dominant regulator of cellular structure and function (for reviews, see Giancotti, 1997). The ECM functions both as a scaffold for cell attachment and cytoskeletal organization and as an array of signaling molecules. Cell surface receptors for ECM molecules integrate the three cellular responses of attachment, cytoskeletal organization, and signaling. Consequently, cellular structure and signaling events are coupled within these receptors, as shown by adhesion dependence of cell growth and cell shape dependence of some signaling pathways leading to cell survival and tissue-specific gene expression (Petersen et al., 1992;Roskelley et al., 1994;Boudreau et al., 1996;Chen et al., 1997a;Kheradmand et al., 1998;Wang et al., 1998). Although the multiple ECM receptors on the cell surface are presumed to play different roles in signaling and morphogenesis, their distinct functions are not well characterized in the same cell system.Our laboratory has been dissecting the mechanism by which the ECM regulates epithelial cell behavior using assays of normal cell function in both primary mammary epithelial cells and cell lines. Cells of mammary epithelial origin comprise the myoepithelial and milk-secreting cells of the mammary gland. Like all epithelial cells, they contact the basement membrane, and signaling from the basement membrane is important in all stages of mammary gland development (for review, see . Removing mammary epithelial cells from contact with the basement membrane and placing them on tissue culture plastic leads to altered cellular structure and growth, increased apoptosis, and a loss of function, the latter being measured by the cell...