Adenovirus-Mediated Gene Transfer of the Proteoglycan Biglycan Induces Fibroblastic Responses in the Lung

Biglycan and decorin are small chondroitin-dermatan sulfate proteoglycans which form part of the extracellular matrix. In addition to their structural roles, they may have other important effects on cell behavior by binding via their core proteins to the potentially fibrogenic cytokine transforming growth factor-βl, and indeed their expression is altered in fibrotic tissues from lung, kidney, and liver. Previous studies on the role of these proteoglycans have been difficult due to the problems of purifying them from tissues in sufficient quantities. We have therefore engineered replication-deficient recombinant adenovirus 5 vectors expressing the cDNAs of the human biglycan [AdBGN] and decorin [AdDEC] core proteins and used these to transiently overexpress biglycan and decorin in the rat respiratory tract.