Effects of fibronectin cleaved by neuropsin on cell adhesion and migration

Neuropsin is a serine protease cloned from the mouse hippocampus. Since neu ropsin is a secreted protein which effectively cleaves fibronectin, it may affect cell adhesion or cell migration by modulating the content and/or che mical characteristics of fibronectin in extracellular matrix (ECM). In adhe sion assays, alpha 5B2 cells expressing integrin alpha5 beta1 bound less ef fectively to fibronectin teated with neuropsin than intact fibronectin. In Boyden chamber chemotaxis assays, the fibronectin-induced migration of alph a 5B2 cells was not affected by neuropsin treatment. These findings suggest that neuropsin regulates the local microenvironment by modulating the inte raction between cells acid fibronectin in ECM. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ir eland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.