The Hyaluronic Acid?CD44 Interaction in the Physio- and Pathological Stem Cell Niche

SEVIC I; VITALE D; SPINELLI F; VALENZUELA M; GUTIERREZ L; BOLONTRADE M; ALANIZ L

Simposio; Advances and Future Perspectives of Proteoglycans in Stem Cells - From Development to Cancer; 2021

Springer Nature

The CD44 protein is a single-chain transmembrane glycoprotein able tobind several ligands. Hyaluronic acid is its main ligand and this interaction is themost extensively studied. Hyaluronic acid, as a component of the extracellularmatrix, through CD44 is able to modulate several mechanisms that control stemcell behavior, such as migration and anchorage, efflux of toxic compounds, growthin hypoxic conditions and quiescence, besides their self-renewal and differentiationpotential. In this chapter we describe the hyaluronic acid?CD44 interaction as part ofthe communication between the extracellular matrix and different cells that belong tothe stem niche, focusing on the hematopoietic and adipose niche. Finally, we discussthe role of these interactions in the transformation of the normal stem niche to atumorigenic niche that allows the development of cancer stem cells.