Differential use of very late antigen-4 and -5 integrins by hematopoietic precursors and myeloma cells to adhere to transforming growth factor-beta1-treated bone marrow stroma.

The very late antigen (VLA)-4 and VLA-5 integrins mediate hematopoietic progenitor cell attachment to bone marrow (BM) stroma. Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) is a cytokine present in the BM microenvironment that has been shown to regulate the synthesis of adhesion elements in several cell types. We have investigated whether TGF-beta1 action on human BM stromal cells affected the adhesion of progenitor cells involving integrins VLA-4 and VLA-5. Two precursor cell lines, pre-B Nalm-6 and the multipotential UT-7, attached to untreated primary stroma and to the human BM stromal cell line Str-5 preferentially using VLA-4. However, treatment of the stroma with TGF-beta1 resulted in a significant reduction in the participation of VLA-4 in mediating precursor cell adhesion to stroma and a concomitant increase in the utilization of VLA-5. This effect was not exclusive of normal BM stroma. Treatment with TGF-beta1 of stroma from multiple myeloma BM samples produced a substantial increase in VLA-5 use by the myeloma cell line NCI-H929 to adhere to this stroma. The differential use of VLA-4 and VLA-5 correlated with an increase in fibronectin surface expression by stromal cells in response to TGF-beta1. Adhesion assays to purified fibronectin using Nalm-6 cells showed a predominant utilization of VLA-4 at low concentrations of this ligand, whereas higher concentrations resulted in a preferential use of VLA-5. These results indicate that regulation of fibronectin expression on BM stromal cells by TGF-beta1 results in a modulation of the pattern of integrins used by the precursor and myeloma cells to adhere to BM stroma, which could have important consequences on the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic precursor cells as well as on the localization and growth of myeloma cells.