A possible role of vimentin on the cell surface for the activation of latent transforming growth factor-β

Abstract Latent TGF-β (LTGF-β) has to be converted to active TGF-β for its activities. Previously, we reported that certain fragments of latency associated peptide (LAP) augmented LTGF-β activation via increase in binding of LTGF-β to the endothelial cell (EC) surface followed by cell-associated proteolysis. By searching for EC membrane proteins crosslinked with the LAP fragment, we identified the molecule bound to LAP fragment as vimentin. Moreover, the LAP fragment-induced LTGF-β activation was attenuated by anti-vimentin antibody. These results indicate that binding of the LAP fragment to vimentin on the cell surface is indispensable for LTGF-β activation by the LAP fragment. Structured summary MINT- 6806227 : vimentin (uniprotkb: P48616 ) binds (MI: 0407 ) to LAP (uniprotkb: P18341 ) by competition binding (MI: 0405 ) MINT- 6806183 : LAP (uniprotkb: P18341 ) binds (MI: 0407 ) to vimentin (uniprotkb: P48616 ) by cross-linking studies (MI: 0030 )