doi:10.1369/jhc.5C6834.2005
Volume 54 (3): 269-274, 2006 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc.
Retention of the Matricellular Protein SPARC in the Endoplasmic Reticulum of Chondrocytes from Patients with Pseudoachondroplasia
Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, Texas (JTH), and Hope Heart Program, Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, Seattle, Washington (EHS) Correspondence to: Dr. E. Helene Sage, Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, 1201 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101. E-mail: hsage{at}benaroyaresearch.org
Pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH) is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by dwarfism, morphological irregularities of long bones and hips, and early-onset osteoarthritis. This disease has been attributed to mutations in a structural protein of the cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM), cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), which result in its selective retention in the chondrocyte rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Accumulation of excessive amounts of mutated COMP might reflect a defect in protein trafficking by PSACH chondrocytes. Here we identify the matricellular protein SPARC as a component of this trafficking deficit. SPARC was localized to the hypertrophic chondrocytes in the normal human tibial growth plate and in cultured control cartilage nodules. In contrast, concentrated intracellular depots of SPARC were identified in nodules cultured from three PSACH patients with mutations in COMP. The accumulated SPARC was coincident with COMP and with protein disulfide isomerase, a resident chaperone of the rough ER, whereas SPARC and COMP were not coincident in the ECM of control or PSACH nodules. SPARC-null mice develop severe osteopenia and degenerative intervertebral disc disease, and exhibit attenuation of collagenous ECM. The retention of SPARC in the ER of chondrocytes producing mutant COMP indicates a new intracellular function for SPARC in the trafficking/secretion of cartilage ECM. (J Histochem Cytochem 54:269274, 2006)
Key Words: SPARC pseudoachondroplasia matricellular cartilage oligomeric matrix protein cartilage endoplasmic reticulum thrombospondin 5
PSEUDOACHONDROPLASIA (PSACH) is an autosomal dominant dwarfing condition associated with characteristic radiological findings that include flattened irregular epiphyses of all the long bones and hips, metaphyseal irregularity, and platyspondyly (Unger and Hecht 2001
Mutations in cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP, also known as thrombospondin 5), a large extracellular matrix (ECM) protein (Mr 524,000), cause PSACH and the characteristic chondrocyte cellular pathology (Cooper et al. 1973
An understudied component of cartilage is the matricellular protein SPARC (secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine; also known as osteonectin and BM-40), an Mr 34,000 glycoprotein produced in many tissues during fetal development. In the adult, SPARC exhibits a more restricted pattern confined largely to remodeling organs with high cellular turnover, such as gut and bone, and to tissues responding to injury (Brekken and Sage 2001
Several different mutations in COMP responsible for the PSACH phenotype have recently been shown to impair the secretion of COMP itself, as well as collagen type IX and matrilin 3, by cultured chondrocyte nodules (Hecht et al. 2001
Sample Preparation Preparation of control costochondral chondrocytes and chondrocytes from PSACH patients with the mutations D469del, G427E, and D511Y, as well as culture of cartilage nodules, were as previously described (Hecht et al. 1998
Immunostaining
Horseradish PeroxidaseSingle Label
FluorescenceDouble Label All images were collected with an Olympus BX51 microscope (Olympus America, Inc.; Melville, NY) equipped with a SPOT RT SLIDER digital camera and were edited by the use of Corel Draw (Corel Corp.; Ottawa, Canada).
SPARC is Present in Normal Human Growth Plate As shown in Figures 1A and 1B, human tibial growth plate was stained by anti-SPARC IgG within the hypertrophic zone, specifically around and in some cases within the hypertrophic chondrocytes. This staining pattern was recapitulated in cartilage nodules cultured from normal human donors (with differences in relative staining intensity) (Figure 1C). In contrast, Figures 1DF present an altered distribution of SPARC in cartilage nodules cultured from three PSACH patients, each of whom has been identified with different mutations in COMP. In these PSACH chondrocytes, SPARC was concentrated intracellularly, with apparently minimal levels in the cartilage ECM.
Cartilage nodules derived from normal (control) and PSACH patients were examined for potential colocalization of SPARC with a marker of the rough ER, PDI, a resident chaperone of this cellular compartment. As shown in Figures 2A C, SPARC and PDI exhibited minimal colocalization in control nodules, despite the trafficking of SPARC through the ER-Golgi as a secretory product of these cells. In contrast, chondrocytes with COMP mutations D511Y (Figures 2DF) and D469del (Figures 2GI) showed clear and substantial levels of coincidence in their distribution of SPARC and PDI (indicated by the yellow fluorescence in Figures 2F and 2I). These data are consistent with those shown in Figure 1 and indicate that SPARC is retained in the rough ER, colocalizing with PDI, in PSACH chondrocytes with mutations in COMP.
The relative distribution of SPARC and COMP in cultured cartilage nodules is shown in Figure 3 . In control nodules (Figures 3A 3C), SPARC was observed as punctate, intracellular granules, a distribution typical of a secreted protein (Figure 3B). In contrast, COMP appeared primarily in the nodular ECM (Figure 3A), and the merged image (Figure 3C) reinforced the disparate distribution of these two secreted proteins. Coincidence between SPARC and COMP, however, was seen in chondrocytes from a PSACH patient with the COMP mutation D511Y (Figures 3DF). Although the colocalization of these proteins was not seen in all cells, there were numerous merged images in which intracellular COMP and SPARC were coincident (Figure 3F). Extracellular COMP, however, was not coincident with SPARC in the ECM surrounding the D511Y chondrocytes (Figures 3D3F). These images indicate that SPARC and a major structural protein of the cartilaginous ECM, COMP, are retained in the ER simultaneously in PSACH chondrocytes.
Previous studies on cartilaginous tissues from PSACH patients have revealed defects in both the secretion and deposition of territorial ECM by resident chondrocytes (Hecht et al. 1998
Certain of the matricellular proteins (e.g., osteopontin, thrombospondins 1 and 2, and SPARC) are produced by developing osseous tissues and are variously known to regulate aspects of ECM production, angiogenesis, and immune cell or macrophage function (Bornstein and Sage 2002 The presence of SPARC in normal growth plate has been confirmed, and its preferential localization in the hypertrophic zone was recapitulated in organ cultures of human cartilage nodules. However, in cartilage nodules cultured from PSACH donors, SPARC was located primarily intracellularly, and coincidently with PDI, a resident chaperone of the rough ER. A further distinction was made between the distribution of SPARC and COMP, the latter observed largely in the nodular ECM. In contrast, SPARC and mutant COMP were coincident in a significant proportion of chondrocytes from a PSACH patient. The data therefore indicate that, in PSACH chondrocytes, the principal structural protein COMP and the matricellular protein SPARC, both of which are secreted proteins, are simultaneously retained in the ER.
SPARC-null mice develop osteopenia and exhibit a general reduction in collagenous ECM (Delany et al. 2000
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant GM40711 (EHS) and a Shriners Hospital grant (JTH). The authors thank Elizabeth Hayes for excellent technical assistance and Eileen Neligan for assistance with the manuscript.
Received for publication September 12, 2005; accepted October 31, 2005
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