Decorin inhibits cell attachment to thrombospondin-1 by binding to a KKTR-dependent cell adhesive site present within the N-terminal domain of thrombospondin-1.

Skin decorin (DCN) is an antiadhesive dermatan sulfate-rich proteoglycan that interacts with thrombospondin-1 (TSP) and inhibits fibroblast adhesion to TSP [Winnemöller et al., 1992]. Molecular mechanisms by which DCN interacts with TSP and inhibits cell adhesion to TSP are unknown. In the present study, we showed that skin DCN and bone DCN (chondroitin sulfate-rich proteoglycan) were quantitatively identical with respect to their ability to interact with TSP. Using a series of fusion proteins corresponding to the different structural domains of TSP, binding of [125I]DCN to TSP was found to be dependent of the N-terminal domain and, to a lesser extent, of the type 1 repeats and the C-terminal domain of TSP. In addition, heparan sulfate drastically inhibited [125I]DCN binding to solid-phase adsorbed TSP (80% inhibition), suggesting that DCN could bind to the N-terminal domain of TSP through interaction with heparin-binding sequences. To address this question, a series of synthetic peptides, overlapping heparin-binding sequences ARKGSGRR (residues 22-29), KKTR (residues 80-83) and RLRIAKGGVNDN (residues 178-189), were synthesized and tested for their ability to interact with DCN. [125I]DCN interacted only with peptides VDAVRTEKGFLLLASLRQMKKTRGT and KKTRGTLLALERKDHS containing the heparin-binding consensus sequence KKTR. These peptides contained glycosaminoglycan-dependent and -independent binding sites because [125I]DCN binding to VDAVRTEKGFLLLASLRQMKKTRGT and KKTRGTLLALERKDHS was partially reduced upon removal of the glycosaminoglycan chain (65% and 46% inhibition, respectively). [125I]DCN poorly bound to subpeptide MKKTRG and did not bind at all to subpeptides VDAVRTEKGFLLLASLRQ and TLLALERKDHS, suggesting that heparin-binding sequence MKKTRG constituted a DCN binding site when flanked with peptides VDAVRTEKGFLLLASLRQ and TLLALERKDHS. The sequence VDAVRTEKGFLLLASLRQMKKTRGTLLALERKDHS constitutes a cell adhesive active site in the N-terminal domain of TSP [Clezardin et al., 1997], and DCN inhibited the attachment of fibroblastic and osteoblastic cells to peptides VDAVRTEKGFLLLASLRQMKKTRGT and KKTRGTLLALERKDHS by about 50 and 80%, respectively. Although fibroblastic cells also attached to type 3 repeats and the C-terminal domain of TSP, DCN only inhibited cell attachment to the C-terminal domain. Overall, these data indicate that modulation by steric exclusion of cell adhesion to a KKTR-dependent cell adhesive site present within the N-terminal domain of TSP could explain the antiadhesive properties of DCN.