Thrombospondin and osteopontin bind to insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-binding protein-5 leading to an alteration in IGF-I-stimulated cell growth.

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-binding protein-5 (IGFBP-5) has been shown to bind to extracellular matrix (ECM) with relatively high affinity, but the ECM components that mediate this interaction have not been identified. These studies show that radiolabeled IGFBP-5 specifically coprecipitates with two ECM proteins, thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) and osteopontin (OPN). As TSP-1 binds avidly to heparin, as does IGFBP-5, the effect of glycosaminoglycans on the TSP-1/IGFBP-5 interaction was analyzed. Heparan and dermatan sulfate inhibited binding, whereas heparin increased binding. Chondroitin sulfate A and B had no effect. In contrast, both heparin and heparan sulfate significantly inhibited the OPN-IGFBP-5 interaction and chondroitin sulfate A, B, and C had no effect. To determine the region of IGFBP-5 that was involved in each interaction, synthetic peptides that spanned several regions of IGFBP-5 were tested for their capacity to competitively inhibit coprecipitation. A peptide that contained the amino acids between positions 201 and 218 resulted in 76% and 86% inhibition of binding to TSP-1 and OPN, respectively. Three other synthetic peptides that spanned regions ofIGFBP-5 with several charged residues had no effect. IGFBP-5 mutants that contained substitutions for basic residues in the 201-218 region were tested for their ability to bind to TSP-1 or OPN. A mutant with substitutions for amino acids at positions R201 and K202 and a mutant with substitutions for K211, R214, K217, and R218 had the greatest reduction in binding to TSP-1. Mutants containing substitutions for R214 alone and the combined K217A, R218A mutant had the greatest reductions in OPN binding. When the smooth muscle cell growth response to these components was assessed, IGF-I plus IGFBP-5 or the combination of TSP-1 or OPN with IGF-I potentiated the IGF-I effect. The addition of IGFBP-5 to these combinations resulted in further significant growth stimulation. Both OPN and TSP-1 specifically bind to IGFBP-5 with high affinity. These interactions may be important for concentrating intact IGFBP-5 in extracellular matrix and for modulating the cooperative interaction between the IGF-I receptor and integrin receptor signaling pathways.