Cell attachment properties of collagen type VI and Arg-Gly-Asp dependent binding to its alpha 2(VI) and alpha 3(VI) chains.

Twelve of sixteen different cell types including fibroblasts and tumor cells were able to attach and spread on substrates of pepsin-solubilized or intact collagen VI, and on its triple helical domain. Attachment and spreading were independent of soluble mediator proteins (fibronectin, laminin) and collagen VI was distinct from collagens I, IV and V in the cells with which it interacted. Many of the same cells bound and spread on substrates prepared from unfolded alpha 2(VI) and alpha 3(VI) chains but not on the alpha 1(VI) chain. The interactions with the chains were inhibited by low concentrations (10-100 microM) of synthetic RGDS and RGDT but not RGES peptides while the binding of cells to pepsin-solubilized collagen VI was more than 20-fold less sensitive to these peptides. The data indicate that cells have the ability to bind to collagen VI in a specific manner suggesting a similar function for collagen VI in situ.