Soluble CD109 binds TGF-β and antagonizes TGF-β signalling and responses

Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is a multifunctional cytokine implicated in many diseases, including tissue fibrosis and cancer. TGF-β mediates diverse biological responses by signalling through type I and II TGF-β receptors (TβRI and TβRII). We have previously identified CD109, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored protein, as a novel TGF-β co-receptor that negatively regulates TGF-β signalling and responses and demonstrated that membrane-anchored CD109 promotes TGF-β receptor degradation via a SMAD7/Smurf2-mediated mechanism. To determine whether CD109 released from the cell surface (soluble CD109 or sCD109) also acts as a TGF-β antagonist, we determined the efficacy of recombinant sCD109 to interact with TGF-β and inhibit TGF-β signalling and responses. Our results demonstrate that sCD109 binds TGF-β with high affinity as determined by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and cell-based radioligand binding and affinity labelling competition assays. SPR detected slow dissociation kinetics between sCD109 and TGF-β at low concentrations, indicating a stable and effective interaction. In addition, sCD109 antagonizes TGF-β-induced Smad2/3 phosphorylation, transcription and cell migration. Together, our results suggest that sCD109 can bind TGF-β, inhibit TGF-β binding to its receptors and decrease TGF-β signalling and TGF-β-induced cellular responses.