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Besides comprising scaffolding, extracellular matrix components modulate many biological processes including inflammation and cell differentiation. We previously found precoating cell plates with extracellular matrix collagen I, or its denatured product gelatin, causes aggregation of macrophage-like human lymphoma U937 cells, which are induced to differentiation by phorbol myristate treatment. In the present study, we investigated the influence of gelatin or collagen I precoating on the bacteria phagocytosis in PMA-stimulated U937 cells. Colony forming units of phagocytosed bacteria, Giemsa-staining of cells with phagocytosed bacteria, confocal microscopic and flow cytometric analysis of cells with phagocytosed FITC-labeled bacteria and non-bioactive latex beats were conducted. Gelatin precoating enhances the phagocytosis of both Gram-negative and positive bacteria, as shown by the increased colony forming units of bacteria phagocytosed by cells, and increased intracellular bacteria observed after Giemsa-staining. But collagen I has no marked influence. Confocal microscopy reveals that both live and dead FITC-bacteria were phagocytosed more in the cells with gelatin-coating but not collagen-coating. Of note, both gelatin and collagen I coating had no influence on the phagocytosis of non-bioactive latex beads. Since gelatin-coating increases autophagy but collagen I has no such impact, we are curious about the role of autophagy. Inhibiting autophagy reduced the phagocytosis of bacteria, in cells with gelatin-coating, while stimulating autophagy enhanced phagocytosis. This study finds the bacteria-phagocytosis stimulatory effect of gelatin in PMA-treated U937 cells and reveals the positive regulatory role of autophagy, predicting the potential use of gelatin products in anti-bacterial therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extracellular matrix (ECM) plays an important role in tissue repair, cell proliferation, and differentiation. Our previous study showed that collagen I and collagen V differently regulate the proliferation of rat pancreatic β cells (INS-1 cells) through opposite influences on the nuclear translocation of β-catenin. In this study, we investigated the β-catenin pathway in INS-1 cells on dishes coated with collagen I or V. We found that nuclear translocation of the transcription factor Yes-associated protein (YAP) was enhanced by collagen I and suppressed by collagen V, but had no effect on INS-1 cell proliferation. Morphologically, INS-1 cells on collagen V-coated dishes showed stronger cell-to-cell adhesion, while the cells on collagen I-coated dishes showed weaker cell-to-cell adhesion in comparison with the cells on non-coated dishes. E-cadherin played an inhibitory role in the proliferation of INS-1 cells cultured on collagen I or collagen V coated dishes via regulation of the nuclear translocation of β-catenin. Integrin β1 was enhanced with collagen I, while it was repressed with collagen V. The integrin β1 pathway positively regulated the cell proliferation. Inhibition of integrin β1 pathway restored the protein level of E-cadherin and inhibited the nuclear translocation of β-catenin in the cells on collagen I-coated dishes, but no effect was observed in the cells on collagen V-coated dishes. In conclusion, collagen I enhances the proliferation of INS-1 cells via the integrin β1 and E-cadherin/β-catenin signaling pathway. In INS-1 cells on collagen V-coated dishes, both integrin β1 and E-cadherin/β-catenin signal pathways are involved in the inhibition of proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]