chondroitin-sulfates and Skin-Abnormalities

The presence of iduronic acid in chondroitin/dermatan sulfate changes the properties of the polysaccharides because it generates a more flexible chain with increased binding potentials. Iduronic acid in chondroitin/dermatan sulfate influences multiple cellular properties, such as migration, proliferation, differentiation, angiogenesis and the regulation of cytokine/growth factor activities. Under pathological conditions such as wound healing, inflammation and cancer, iduronic acid has diverse regulatory functions. Iduronic acid is formed by two epimerases (i.e. dermatan sulfate epimerase 1 and 2) that have different tissue distribution and properties. The role of iduronic acid in chondroitin/dermatan sulfate is highlighted by the vast changes in connective tissue features in patients with a new type of Ehler-Danlos syndrome: adducted thumb-clubfoot syndrome. Future research aims to understand the roles of the two epimerases and their interplay with the sulfotransferases involved in chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate biosynthesis. Furthermore, a better definition of chondroitin/dermatan sulfate functions using different knockout models is needed. In this review, we focus on the two enzymes responsible for iduronic acid formation, as well as the role of iduronic acid in health and disease.

Topics: Amino Acid Motifs; Animals; Antigens, Neoplasm; Carbohydrate Epimerases; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell; Cell Movement; Chondroitin Sulfates; Dermatan Sulfate; DNA-Binding Proteins; Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome; Extracellular Matrix; Eye Abnormalities; Foot Deformities, Congenital; Hand Deformities, Congenital; Humans; Iduronic Acid; Joint Instability; Molecular Conformation; Neoplasm Proteins; Skin Abnormalities; Stem Cells; Sulfotransferases; Thumb

Costello syndrome is a distinctive multiple congenital anomaly syndrome, characterized by loose soft skin with deep palmar and plantar creases, loose joints, distinctive coarse facial features, skeletal abnormalities, cardiac abnormalities (cardiovascular malformation (CVM), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, tachycardia), predisposition to malignancy, developmental delays, and mental retardation. Previous studies with cultured fibroblasts from individuals with Costello syndrome demonstrate excessive accumulation of chondroitin sulfate-bearing proteoglycans, associated with both impaired formation of elastic fibers and an unusually high rate of cellular proliferation. Despite multiple clinical reports of cardiac abnormalities, there has been only one previously published report describing post-mortem findings in hearts from Costello syndrome patients. Here we provide a detailed description of the post-mortem findings of the hearts of three children with Costello syndrome. Routine histological examination and results of targeted histochemical and immunohistochemical studies revealed that in addition to cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, these hearts also demonstrated massive pericellular and intracellular accumulation of chondroitin sulfate-bearing proteoglycans and a marked reduction of elastic fibers. Normal stroma was replaced by multifocal collagenous fibrosis. Most peculiar was the finding that the bulk of the chondroitin sulfate accumulated in these Costello syndrome hearts is a chondroitin-6-sulfate. In contrast, deposition of chondroitin-4 sulfate was below the level detected in normal hearts. We propose that an imbalance in sulfation of chondroitin sulfate molecules and subsequent accumulation of chondroitin-6-sulfate in cardiomyocytes contribute to the development of the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy of Costello syndrome.

Topics: Abnormalities, Multiple; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic; Child; Child, Preschool; Chondroitin Sulfates; Developmental Disabilities; Face; Fatal Outcome; Humans; Infant; Intellectual Disability; Male; Myocardium; Skin Abnormalities; Syndrome