Inception and establishment of the International CCN Society (ICCNS) and of the Journal of Cell Communication and Signaling (JCCS): A response to A. Leask’s Editorial entitled "Modeling the microenvironment special issue"

Abstract

A little over a year ago, on January 25, 2021, the new Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of JCCS stated in his Editorial: “ICCNS and JCCS were the brainchildren of Bernard Perbal, and without his energy and drive, neither would exist, to the detriment of us who are driven to solve difficult problems in science, and not picking low-hanging fruit. All one has to do is examine all the editorials written in JCCS (and CCS!) to see evidence of this. It will be tough to fill those shoes.“

I disagree with the assertion in the Editorial published on March 29, 2022 that G. Martin contributed “to the initial growth of the International CCN Society, and, ultimately, to the establishment of this journal.” My opinion is based on the evidence that the International CCN Society (ICCNS) and its official organ journal, the Journal of Cell Communication and Signaling (JCCS), were created by myself. Over a span of 21 years until the present, and in spite of his contribution to the early history of CTGF, we never heard from G. Martin being involved or interested in any aspect of the ICCNS and its biannual meetings, nor in any aspect in the growth of JCCS.

In order to further clarify the confusion stemming from the Editorial in question and to give credit where it is due, I provide below detailed evidence that undoubtedly ascribes the true inception of both ICCNS and JCCS, and merit to the efforts of all those who trusted and supported us during the initial difficult creative moments.

I am of the opinion that the Editorial, and the implications that it carries do not justice to the efforts of those who were really involved in the creation of both the ICCNS and JCCS.

In the name of respectful scientific integrity, I will provide the evidence that correctly attributes the inception of ICCNS and JCCS.

The roots of the International CCN society (ICCNS)

CCN refers to the first 3 members of the CCN family, Cyr61, CTGF and NOV. P. Bork coined the CCN acronym in 1993 (Bork 1993), soon after our discovery of a new gene –nov- presently designated CCN3 (Perbal et al. 2018), whose expression was enhanced in all myeloblastosis associated virus (MAV)-induced nephroblastomas (Joliot et al. 1992), a unique animal model of Wilms’ tumor in humans (Perbal 1994).

The ICCNS was officially recognized as a Non-Profit Association on January 17th, 2001 headed by Bernard Perbal and Annick Perbal, founding Executive Board members.

The following details were never disclosed.

The creation of ICCNS was originally proposed at the first International Workshop on the CCN family of Genes organized in Saint-Malo (France) October 17–19, 2000, a workshop organized by Bernard and Annick Perbal. On this occasion the discoverers of the six members of the CCN family of proteins (Lester Lau, Gary Grotendorst, Bernard Perbal and Diane Pennica) participated in the setting up of a Steering Committee (J. Clinical Pathol:Mol Pathol 2001;54:108; B. Perbal, President; H. Yeger, Vice President; L. Lau, Treasurer; C. Ayer, Vice-treasurer; D. Brigstock, Scientific secretary; A. Perbal, Administrative secretary; D. Pennica, P. Schofield) in charge of working on a unifying nomenclature for the CCN family of proteins that was proposed two years later (Brigstock et al. 2003).

The first Scientific Board of the CCN Society was comprised of Bernard Perbal, President; Herman Yeger, Vice-President for North America; Masaharu Takigawa Vice-President for Asian Countries; Lester Lau, Treasurer; Magaret Goppelt Struebe, Vice Treasurer; David Brigstock, Scientific Secretary; Annick Perbal, Administrative Secretary.

Milestones in the establishment of the CCN field have been previously reviewed (Perbal 2013).

The Inception of the Journal of Cell Communication and Signaling (JCCS)

Although a history of the JCCS has been previously briefly presented (Perbal 2015), it is useful, in the present context to recall the cardinal steps of its initial inception.

The founding journal “Cell Communication and Signaling” (CCS) was created upon my initiative in 2002 when I suggested to BioMed Central both the name of the journal and the scientific topic of the CCS, of which I became the first Editor-In-Chief.

The fast pace at which the CCN field had developed subsequently and the great variety of signaling pathways in which the various CCN proteins have been shown to play critical functions, contributed to the establishment of the International CCN Society (ICCNS) as an essential forum for the exchange and diffusion of scientific information regarding intercellular signaling.

I then went on to create the “Journal of cell Communication and Signaling” [JCCS] in January 2007 with the support of P. Butler at Springer, as the official organ journal of ICCNS. It has been a major step along the path towards establishment and expansion of the CCN field.

On a scientific ground, reducing the “significant developments in the early phases of research on the CCN proteins” to a few citations of manuscripts dealing only with CTGF, which is only one of the six members of the CCN family, does not acknowledge all those who actively participated in the hundreds of sound publications that have made CCN biology a solid and scientifically recognized field.

Readers interested in the early progress in this field are invited to read or rediscover the many original reviews and newer articles showing the great diversity of CCN proteins and the biological activities aside from CCN2 (aka CTGF).

This present response highlights key references, taken among the 154 reviews and 1255 articles citing CCN on PubMed: Brigstock,1999; Brigstock et al. 2003, Bork 1993; Birkeness, 2022; Giusti and Scotlandi 2021; Joliot et al. 1992; Krupska et al. 2015; Kubota et al. 2022; Lau and Lam 1999; Lau 2016; Perbal 1994; Perbal 2001; Perbal 2004; Perbal 2013; Perbal and Perbal 2016; Perbal 2018; Perbal et al. 2018; Tran 2018; Twigg 2018; Weiskirchen 2011; Yeger and Perbal 2021). Notably, this wealth of scientific achievements and contribution to the scientific literature has rested on the initial efforts made by those recognized herein who established the ICCNS and JCCS.