Procoagulant activity of tissue factor (TF) in response to injury or inflammation is accompanied with cellular signals which determine the fate of cells. However, to prevent excessive signalling, TF is rapidly dissipated through release into microvesicles, and/or endocytosis. To elucidate the mechanism by which TF signalling may become moderated on the surface of cells, the associations of TF, fVII/fVIIa, PAR2 and caveolin-1 on MDA-MB-231, BxPC-3 and 786-O cells were examined and compared to that in cells lacking either fVII/fVIIa or TF. Furthermore, the localisation of labelled-recombinant TF with cholesterol-rich lipid rafts was explored on the surface of primary human blood dermal endothelial cells (HDBEC). Finally, by disrupting the caveolae on the surface of HDBEC, the outcome on TF-mediated signalling was examined. The association between TF and PAR2 was found to be dependent on the presence of fVIIa. Interestingly, the presence of TF was not pre-requisite for the association between fVII/fVIIa and PAR2 but was significantly enhanced by TF, which was also essential for the proliferative signal. Supplementation of HDBEC with exogenous TF resulted in early release of fVII/fVIIa from caveolae, followed by re-sequestration of TF-fVIIa. Addition of labelled-TF resulted in the accumulation within caveolin-1-containing cholesterol-rich regions and was also accompanied with the increased assimilation of cell-surface fVIIa. Disruption of the caveolae/rafts in HDBEC using MβCD enhanced the TF-mediated cellular signalling. Our data supports a hypothesis that cells respond to the exposure to TF by moderating the signalling activities as well as the procoagulant activity of TF, through incorporation into the caveolae/lipid rafts.
Keywords: caveolae; cell signalling; cholesterol-rich microdomins; factor VIIa; protease-activated receptor-2; tissue factor.