Collagen VI-NG2 axis in human tendon fibroblasts under conditions mimicking injury response

Cultures subjected to wound healing scratch assay displayed collagen VI NG2 complexes at the trailing edge of migrating cells, suggesting a potential role in cell migration. In fact, the addition of a NG2-blocking antibody led to an impairment of cell polarization and delay of wound closure. Similar results were obtained after in vitro perturbation of collagen VI extracellular assembly with the 3C4 anti-collagen VI antibody and in collagen VI-deficient tendon cultures of a Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy patient carrying mutations in COL6A2 gene.

In response to injury, tendon fibroblasts are activated, migrate to the wound, and contribute to tissue repair by producing and organizing the extracellular matrix. Collagen VI is a microfibrillar collagen enriched in the pericellular matrix of tendon fibroblasts with a potential regulatory role in tendon repair mechanism. We investigated the molecular basis of the interaction between collagen VI and the cell membrane both in tissue sections and fibroblast cultures of human tendon, and analyzed the deposition of collagen VI during migration and myofibroblast trans-differentiation, two crucial events for tendon repair. Tendon fibroblast displayed a collagen VI microfibrillar network closely associated with the cell surface. Binding of collagen VI with the cell membrane was mediated by NG2 proteoglycan, as demonstrated by in vitro perturbation of collagen VI NG2 interaction with a NG2-blocking antibody.