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. 2013 Aug;12(8):2148-59.
doi: 10.1074/mcp.M112.027086. Epub 2013 May 3.

Oncogenic H-ras reprograms Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell-derived exosomal proteins following epithelial-mesenchymal transition

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Oncogenic H-ras reprograms Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell-derived exosomal proteins following epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Bow J Tauro et al. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2013 Aug.

Abstract

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a highly conserved morphogenic process defined by the loss of epithelial characteristics and the acquisition of a mesenchymal phenotype. EMT is associated with increased aggressiveness, invasiveness, and metastatic potential in carcinoma cells. To assess the contribution of extracellular vesicles following EMT, we conducted a proteomic analysis of exosomes released from Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, and MDCK cells transformed with oncogenic H-Ras (21D1 cells). Exosomes are 40-100 nm membranous vesicles originating from the inward budding of late endosomes and multivesicular bodies and are released from cells on fusion of multivesicular bodies with the plasma membrane. Exosomes from MDCK cells (MDCK-Exos) and 21D1 cells (21D1-Exos) were purified from cell culture media using density gradient centrifugation (OptiPrep™), and protein content identified by GeLC-MS/MS proteomic profiling. Both MDCK- and 21D1-Exos populations were morphologically similar by cryo-electron microscopy and contained stereotypical exosome marker proteins such as TSG101, Alix, and CD63. In this study we show that the expression levels of typical EMT hallmark proteins seen in whole cells correlate with those observed in MDCK- and 21D1-Exos, i.e. reduction of characteristic inhibitor of angiogenesis, thrombospondin-1, and epithelial markers E-cadherin, and EpCAM, with a concomitant up-regulation of mesenchymal makers such as vimentin. Further, we reveal that 21D1-Exos are enriched with several proteases (e.g. MMP-1, -14, -19, ADAM-10, and ADAMTS1), and integrins (e.g. ITGB1, ITGA3, and ITGA6) that have been recently implicated in regulating the tumor microenvironment to promote metastatic progression. A salient finding of this study was the unique presence of key transcriptional regulators (e.g. the master transcriptional regulator YBX1) and core splicing complex components (e.g. SF3B1, SF3B3, and SFRS1) in mesenchymal 21D1-Exos. Taken together, our findings reveal that exosomes from Ras-transformed MDCK cells are reprogrammed with factors which may be capable of inducing EMT in recipient cells.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Isolation of exosomes released from MDCK and 21D1 cells. A, Phase contrast images of MDCK cells reveal epithelial cobblestone-like morphology, whereas 21D1 cells display an elongated mesenchymal-like spindle shape. B, Experimental workflow for MDCK and 21D1-Exos isolation.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Characterization of MDCK- and 21D1-Exos. A, For Western blotting, exosome preparations (10 μg) were separated by 1D-SDS-PAGE, electrotransferred, and probed with exosome markers Alix and TSG101. Additionally, exosomes were probed with epithelial cell markers CDH1 (E-Cadherin) and EpCAM revealing a down-regulation in 21D1-Exos as compared with MDCK-Exos. HRAS (H-Ras), VIM (vimentin) MMP1 (interstitial collagenase), and YBX1 were significantly enriched in 21D1-Exos. B, MDCK- and 21D1-Exos were imaged using cryo-electron microscopy to reveal textured round vesicles between 40–100 nm. Scale bar, 100 nm.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Proteomic analysis of exosomes. A, MDCK- and 21D1-Exos proteins were separated by 1D-SDS-PAGE and stained with ImperialTM Protein Stain. Individual gel slices were excised and subjected to in-gel reduction, alkylation, and tryptic digestion. Extracted peptides were separated by reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) followed by mass spectrometry analysis, database searching and protein annotation. B, A two-way Venn diagram of MDCK- and 21D1-Exos reveals 325 proteins were commonly identified, whereas 57 and 76 proteins were uniquely identified in MDCK- and 21D1-Exos, respectively (supplemental Tables S1-S3).

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