title: Cartducin, a paralog of Acrp30/adiponectin, is induced during chondrogenic differentiation and promotes proliferation of chondrogenic precursors and chondrocytes.
abstract: We previously reported that CORS26 gene, isolated from C3H10T1/2 cells treated with transforming growth factor-beta1, was predominantly expressed in cartilage. Because the gene product is a kind of secretory protein produced by cartilage tissue, we named it "cartducin". Cartducin shares a similar modular organization to adipocyte-derived hormone, adiponectin. In this study, we investigated cartducin function during chondrogenesis and cartilage development. In situ hybridization analysis showed that cartducin transcripts were restricted to the proliferating chondrocytes in the growth plate cartilage. Whole-mount in situ hybridization revealed that the first significant induction of cartducin expression occurred in the sclerotome, which contains a chondrogenic cell lineage between days 9.5 and 10.5 postcoitus (p.c.) during mouse embryogenesis. Chondrogenic differentiation by combined treatment with bone morphogenetic protein-2 and insulin induced cartducin expression along with type II and IX collagen expression in chondrogenic progenitor N1511 cells. To elucidate the direct action of cartducin on the cells, recombinant cartducin protein was expressed in and purified from Escherichia coli. The recombinant cartducin potentially forms homo-oligomers and promoted the proliferation of chondrogenic progenitor N1511 cells, and chondrocytic HCS-2/8 cells in a dose-dependent manner. On the other hand, cartducin did not affect the production of sulfated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) in these cells. These findings indicate that cartducin is a novel growth factor and plays important roles in regulating both chondrogenesis and cartilage development by its direct stimulatory action on the proliferation of chondrogenic precursors and chondrocytes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Dentistry, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. tmaeda@dent.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Akitoshi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jikko
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Tamaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yokohama-Tamaki
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: Souhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takigawa
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wakisaka
mesh_terms: D054392:Adipokines; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D002356:Cartilage / Q000196:embryology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002460:Cell Line; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D024043:Collagen Type II / Q000378:metabolism; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans / Q000378:metabolism; D006132:Growth Plate / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice / Q000196:embryology*; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D048069:Tumor Necrosis Factors
chemical_list: D054392:Adipokines; C506069:C1QTNF3 protein, human; C428135:CORS26 protein, mouse; D024043:Collagen Type II; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D011506:Proteins; D048069:Tumor Necrosis Factors; C013786:A73025