Cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans mediate the internalization of PDX-1 protein.

Although islet transplantation is a promising therapeutic option for the treatment of type 1 diabetes, the shortage of suitable donor tissues remains a major obstacle. Pancreatic stem/progenitor cells residing within the ductal epithelium have been used to generate human islet-like clusters, but there is no efficient strategy for facilitating differentiation of progenitor cells into insulin-producing cells. A previous study reported that exogenous PDX-1 protein can be transduced into pancreatic stem/progenitor cells and induce differentiation of the cells into insulin-producing cells without requiring gene transfer technology. This study provides genetic and biochemical evidence that cell membrane heparan sulfate proteoglycans are required for extracellular PDX-1 internalization. Heparin, one of the soluble glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), inhibited PDX-1 internalization, while chondroitin sulfate A, B, and C caused only very limited inhibition. Cell treatment with heparinase-III demonstrated impaired PDX-1 internalization, while treatment with chondroitinase ABC, or with chondroitinase AC, was completely ineffective in inhibiting PDX-1 internalization. Different mutant cell lines originating from CHO K1 cells and defective in GAG biosynthesis were also examined. PDX-1 internalization was significantly reduced in both pgs A-745 mutant cells, which are defective in a enzyme that initiates GAG synthesis, and pgs B-618 cells, which produce about 15% of the amount of GAGs synthesized by wild-type cells. These data indicate that cell-surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans are required for PDX-1 internalization and that PDX-1 protein transduction could be a valuable strategy for inducing insulin expression in pancreatic stem/progenitor cells without requiring gene transfer technology.