Transforming growth factor-beta regulates collagen gel contraction by increasing alpha 2 beta 1 integrin expression in osteogenic cells.

The contraction of floating collagen gels is suggested to mimic the reorganization of collagenous matrix during development and tissue healing. Here, we have studied two osteogenic cell lines, namely MG-63 and HOS, and a chemically transformed subclone of HOS cells, HOS-MNNG. Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), a putative regulator of bone fracture healing, increased collagen gel contraction by MG-63 and HOS-MNNG, but not by HOS cells. Our data show that TGF-beta-induced fibronectin synthesis is not sufficient for the process. Instead, anti-beta 1 integrin antibodies could prevent the contraction. There are three different integrin heterodimers that are known to mediate the cell-collagen interaction, namely alpha 1 beta 1, alpha 2 beta 1, and alpha 3 beta 1. In MG-63 cells TGF-beta increased the expression of alpha 2 beta 1 integrin and decreased the expression of alpha 3 beta 1 integrin, whereas alpha 1 beta 1 integrin is not expressed. HOS cells had no alpha 2 beta 1 integrin, neither did TGF-beta induce its expression. However, HOS-MNNG cells expressed more alpha 2 beta 1 integrin when treated with TGF-beta. Thus, we suggest that the mechanism of the enhanced collagen gel contraction by TGF-beta is the increased expression of alpha 2 beta 1 integrin heterodimer. To further test this hypothesis, we expressed a full-length alpha 2 integrin cDNA in HOS cells and in MG-63 cells. We obtained HOS cell clones that expressed alpha 2 beta 1 heterodimer, and the ability of these cells to contract collagen gels was greatly enhanced. Furthermore, the contraction by MG-63 cells transfected with alpha 2 integrin cDNA was enhanced, and the contraction by cells transfected with antisense oriented alpha 2 integrin cDNA was decreased. Thus, both in MG-63 and HOS cells the increased alpha 2 integrin expression alone was sufficient for the enhanced contraction of collagen gels. Furthermore, the amount of alpha 2 integrin is critical for the process, and its decrease leads to diminished ability to contract gels.