NCBI Summary:
This gene encodes a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs-4, which is a member of the ADAMTS protein family. Members of the family share several distinct protein modules, including a propeptide region, a metalloproteinase domain, a disintegrin-like domain, and a thrombospondin type 1 (TS) motif. Individual members of this family differ in the number of C-terminal TS motifs, and some have unique C-terminal domains. The enzyme encoded by this gene lacks a C-terminal TS motif. It is responsible for the degradation of aggrecan, a major proteoglycan of cartilage, and brevican, a brain-specific extracellular matrix protein. The cleavage of aggrecan and brevican suggests key roles of this enzyme in arthritic disease and in the central nervous system, potentially, in the progression of glioma.
Madan P et al 2003 reported the expression of Messenger RNA for ADAMTS Subtypes Changes in the Periovulatory Follicle After the Gonadotropin Surge and During Luteal Development and Regression in Cattle.
Extensive remodeling of the extracellular matrix occurs in the ovary during the periovulatory period. Although matrix metalloproteinases and their endogenous inhibitors, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases, are believed to play integral roles in this highly regulated series of cellular events, their specific roles remain unclear. Recent cloning studies have identified a novel family of metalloproteinases, the ADAMTS (A Disintegrin And Metalloproteinase with ThromboSpondin motifs) family. The regulated expression of distinct ADAMTS subtypes has been shown to be required for tissue morphogenesis during embryonic development and for maintaining the integrity of tissues in the adult. In these studies, multiple ADAMTS subtypes were found in the bovine ovary using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction strategy. In particular, ADAMTS-1, -2, -3, -4, -5 (also known as ADAMTS-11), -7, -8 and -9 but not ADAMTS-6, -10, or -12 mRNA transcripts were detected in granulosa cells of non-atretic ovarian follicles and corpora lutea. The levels of mRNA for these ovarian ADAMTS were up-, or down-regulated or remained unchanged in the granulosa and/or theca cells of the dominant follicle following the preovulatory surge of gonadotropins depending on the subtype and/or the cell compartment and in the corpus luteum during the luteal phase of the estrous cycle. The complex expression patterns observed for the distinct ADAMTS subtypes in the granulosa and theca cells of the periovulatory follicle and in luteal tissues of the bovine ovary suggest that these novel proteases mediate, at least in part, the remodeling events underlying folliculogenesis and ovulation and the formation, maintenance and regression of the corpus luteum.
Follicle stages
Preovulatory, Corpus luteum
Comment
Richards JS, et al 2005 reported regulated Expression of ADAMTS Family Members in Follicles and Cumulus Oocyte Complexes and Evidence for Specific and Redundant Patterns During Ovulation.
Protease cascades are essential for many biological events including the LH induced process of ovulation. ADAMTS1 (A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase with Thrombospondin-like repeats-1) is expressed and hormonally regulated in the ovary by LH and the progesterone receptor (PR). To determine if other family members might be expressed and regulated in the rodent ovary, those closely related to ADAMTS1 (ADAMTS4 and ADAMTS5) were analyzed in the mouse ovary by RT-PCR as well as by Western blot, immunohisto- and immunocytochemical analyses using highly specific antibodies. Prior to ovulation, ADAMTS4 and ADAMTS5 were co-expressed in granulosa cells of most follicles whereas ADAMTS5 was also present in granulosa cells of atretic follicles. Following ovulation, ADAMTS1 and ADAMTS4 (but not ADAMTS5) were expressed in multiple cell types, including those within the highly vascular ovulation cone that marks the site of follicle rupture, endothelial cells of newly forming corpora lutea as well as cumulus cells within the ovulated cumulus cell oocyte complex (COC). Versican, a substrate for ADAMTS1 and ADAMTS4, co-localized with these proteases and hylauronan (HA) on the cumulus cell surface. To further characterize induction of these proteases and associated molecules, COCs and granulosa cells were isolated from preovulatory follicles and treated with FSH. In expanded COCs and differentiated granulosa cells, FSH induced expression of ADAMTS4 and versican message and protein whereas increased levels of ADAMTS1 protein were observed in the media of granulosa cells where it was stabilized by heparin in this in vitro system. These studies provide the first evidence that ADAMTS1, ADAMTS4 and ADAMTS5 are expressed in spacio-temporal patterns that suggest distinct as well as some overlapping functions, that relate to the broad expression pattern of versican in granulosa cells of small follicles, expanded COCs, and endothelial cells of the mouse ovary.