Cancers represent a group of unprecedented heterogeneous diseases and currently available anti-cancer therapies provide highly variable efficacy with unsatisfactory cure rates. A wide range of proteomic technologies are being used in quest for newer approaches which could significantly contribute to the discovery and development of selective and specific cancer biomarkers for monitoring the disease state and anti-cancer therapy success. Taking into consideration the above aspects, this research was undertaken to study cancer cell proteomes and their changes after anti-cancer treatment with specific focus on: (a) response to conventional anthracycline/anthracenedione drugs with respect to their different clinical efficacy and (b) identification of novel targets for therapy in cancer cells resistant to biological drugs such as inhibitors of (b1) cyclin-dependent kinases and (b2) Aurora kinases. This study identified several interesting key aspects related to the effects of daunorubicin, doxorubicin and mitoxantrone. With the main focus on early time intervals when the influence of apoptosis is minimised, changes common for all three drugs belonging mainly to metabolic and cellular processes were observed. More importantly, significant changes in proteins involved in the generation of precursor...

Die Therapie von disseminierten malignen Tumoren durch Chemotherapie allein oder in Kombination mit Bestrahlung oder Hyperthermie führt nur in 20-50% zu einem Ansprechen. Dieser Behandlungserfolg wird häufig dadurch limitiert, daß im Verlauf der Therapie zur Entwicklung einer Chemoresistenz kommt. Ziel der Arbeit war es, eine generelle Analyse der Proteinexpression in der in vitro herbeigeführten Chemoresistenz durchzuführen. Dafür wurden Zellkulturen von Magen-, Kolon-, Pankreas, Mammakarzinom und Fibrosarkom die eine Resistenz gegen Daunorubicin und Mitoxantron besitzen benutzt und mit der zweidimensionalen Gelelektrophorese im immobilisierten pH-Gradienten (pH 4,0-8,0) in der ersten Dimension und einen linearen Polyarcylamidgel (12%) in der zweiten Dimension analysiert. Nach Färbung in Coomassie blau wurde eine rechnergestützte Imageanalyse mit dem PDQuest System durchgeführt. Proteinspots die eine auffällige Änderung zeigten wurden isoliert, und nach enzymatischer Gelhydrolyse mikrosequenziert bzw. durch Massenspektrometrie und anschließender micropore HPLC Analyse identifiziert. Acht Proteine, die in den chemoresistenten Zellinien überexprimiert waren, konnten identifiziert werden: Thioredoxin, Annexin 1; Cofilin, Stratifin(14-3-3sigma), Rho-GDP-Dissoziations Inhibitor, Fettsäurebindendes Protein(E-FABP), Adenin Phosphoribosyl Transferase, und BCSG-1 / The therapy of advanced cancer using chemotherapy alone or in combination with radiation or hyperthermia yields an overall response rate of about 20-50%. This success is often marred by the development of resistance to cytostatic drugs. The aim was to study the global analysis of protein expression in the development of chemoresistance in vitro. We therefore used a cell culture model derived from the gastric, colorectal, pancreatic, mamma carcinoma and fibrosarcoma cell line selected to daunorubicin and mitoxantrone. These cell lines were analysed using two-dimensional electrophoresis in immobilized pH-gradients (pH 4.0-8.0) in the first dimension and linear polyacrylamide gels (12%) in the second dimension. After staining with coomassie brilliant blue, image analysis was performed using the PDQuest system. Spots of interest were isolated using preparative two-dimensional electrophoresis and subjected to microsequencing after enzymatic hydrolysis in gel, mass spectrometric data and sequencing of the peptides after their fractionation using microbore HPLC identified. Eight proteins were identified that were overexpressed in chemoresistant cell lines: Thioredoxin, Annexin 1, Cofilin, Stratifin(14-3-3sigma), Rho-GDP-dissoziation Inhibitor, fatty acid binding protein(E-FABP), adenin phosphoribosyl Transferase, and BCSG-1.

Die schlechte Prognose der meisten disseminierten Tumorerkrankungen ist häufig in einer vorbestehenden oder erworbenen Resistenz gegenüber Zytostatika begründet. Da die meisten Zytostatika mit zellulären Strukturen interagieren, war lange angenommen worden, dass der antineoplastische Effekt unmittelbar durch massive Zellschädigung bewirkt wird. Hieraus folgte, dass Chemoresistenz auf Mechanismen beruhen müsse, welche das Zytostatikum an der Wechselwirkung mit seiner intrazellulären Zielstruktur hindern. Arbeiten der letzten Jahre haben jedoch gezeigt, dass die meisten Zytostatika indirekt über DNA-Schädigung ein relativ uniformes, genetisch kodiertes Zelltod-Programm auslösen, demzufolge postuliert wurde, dass auch Apoptosedefekte für "Multi-Drug-Resistenz" verantwortlich sein könnten. Allerdings ist der tatsächlich Beitrag zytostatika-induzierter Apoptose am Therapieerfolg nicht geklärt, wobei der Wahl geeigneter Testsysteme eine wesentliche Bedeutung für diese Kontroverse zuzukommen scheint. Gegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit ist daher die Etablierung eines transgenen Lymphom-Modells, in welchem chemotherapeutische Effekte an spontan entstandenen Tumoren mit definierten genetischen Läsionen in ihrer natürlichen Umgebung untersucht werden können. Hierbei konnte gezeigt werden, dass Mutationen in apoptose-relevanten Genloci wie p53, INK4a/ARF oder bcl2 sowohl die Manifestation myc-transgener Lymphome dramatisch beschleunigen, als auch den Therapieerfolg kompromittieren. Neben Apoptose wurde darüberhinaus prämature Seneszenz, ein terminaler Zellzyklus-Arrest, als prognose-relevantes Chemotherapie-Effektorprogramm identifiziert. Damit dokumentiert die vorliegende Arbeit einen wichtigen Zusammenhang von Gendefekten, die während der Tumorigenese erworben wurden, und später evidenter Chemoresistenz, wobei manche Mutationen bereits vor Zytostatika-Exposition Resistenz begründen können. Die Identifikation und pharmakogenomische Charakterisierung potentiell resistenz-vermittelnder Gene und Mutationen in relevanten Testsystemen wird für die Entwicklung spezifischerer, aber weniger toxischer "targeted Therapeutics" von großer Bedeutung sein. / Intrinsic or acquired chemoresistance is the major cause for the adverse outcome of disseminated malignancies. The fact that most anticancer agents bind to subcellular targets prompted the assumption that drug-induced cytotoxicity must be a direct consequence of severe cellular damage. Hence, chemoresistance was thought to arise from mechanisms that prevent or disrupt the drug-target interaction. By contrast, more recent data suggested that DNA damage caused by most, if not all, anticancer agents may trigger a relatively uniform, genetically encoded cell death program. In turn, defects in the apoptotic machinery should account for multi-drug resistance as well. However, due to technical limitations of current test systems, it has been difficult to assess the overall contribution of apoptotic cell death to treatment outcome. In the studies presented here, a transgenic mouse lymphoma model was established in order to exploit drug responses of spontaneously developed malignancies growing at their natural sites but harboring defined genetic defects. Using this model, alterations in apoptosis-related gene loci such as p53, INK4a/ARF or bcl2 result in both dramatic acceleration of myc-driven lymphomagenesis and compromised treatment responses. Importantly, not only apoptosis, but premature senescence, a terminal cell-cycle arrest, was found to impact on treatment outcome. In essence, this work describes and important connection between cancer genes and cancer therapy, i.e. genetic defects acquired during tumorigenesis may already co-select for chemoresistance prior to any drug encounter. The identification and pharmacogenomic evaluation of resistance conferring candidate genes and mutations using adequate test systems is likely to play a key role in the development of novel, more specific but less toxic so called "targeted Therapeutics".

Le cancer de la prostate est le cancer le plus fréquent chez l’homme et représente la troisième cause de mortalité par cancer en France. Depuis 2004, le docetaxel est le traitement de référence du cancer de la prostate métastatique résistant à la castration (mCRPC). Cependant, malgré le bénéfice de survie obtenu, près de la moitié des patients traités développent une résistance à la chimiothérapie. L’objectif de mon projet de thèse consiste à identifier un prédicteur moléculaire permettant de sélectionner les patients qui vont répondre à la chimiothérapie par docetaxel. Par l’étude du mécanisme moléculaire associé avec le développement de la résistance, mon second objectif est d’identifier de nouvelles cibles thérapeutiques afin de contourner cette résistance.Dans ce but, les profils d’expression de gènes et de microARNs différentiellement exprimés dans plusieurs modèles cellulaires de cancer de prostate résistants au docetaxel ont été établis. L’intégration des données issues de ces analyses haut-débit a suggéré que la transition épithélio-mésenchymateuse (EMT) intervenait dans le mécanisme de résistance au docetaxel. La dissection du mécanisme d’EMT observé dans les modèles cellulaires a permis d’identifier SHISA3 comme une nouvelle protéine régulatrice de ce processus. Le gène SHISA3, alors jamais décrit chez l’Homme, est fortement sous-exprimé dans les modèles résistants au docetaxel présentant un phénotype mésenchymateux, mais également dans de multiples tumeurs humaines. L’inhibition de SHISA3 dans les modèles cellulaires sensibles induit une EMT complète, caractérisée par la perte des jonctions cellulaires, l’expression des facteurs de transcription mésenchymateux et l’augmentation des capacités migratoires. L’étude du mécanisme d’action de SHISA3 nous a permis de mettre en évidence l’interaction de SHISA3 avec le TGFβRII. Nous avons montré dans les cellules résistantes au docetaxel que l’inhibition pharmacologique de la voie du TGFβ provoque une sensibilisation au docetaxel, démontrant l’importance de la régulation de cette voie dans la résistance à la chimiothérapie. En parallèle de ce travail, nous avons établi un modèle de cancer de la prostate résistant au docetaxel chez la souris. L’obtention de ce modèle est cruciale pour réaliser la validation préclinique des thérapies visant à contourner les mécanismes de résistance au docetaxel. Les tumeurs obtenues dans ce nouveau modèle sont caractérisées par une sous-expression de SHISA3 et par l’expression des marqueurs d’EMT. Ce modèle nous permettra de valider in vivo le potentiel thérapeutique de l’association d’un inhibiteur de la voie du TGFβ avec le docetaxel. De manière intéressante, nous avons observé in vivo que l’expression de SHISA3 est corrélée à la réponse au traitement par docetaxel. Ces résultats suggèrent que SHISA3 pourrait être un biomarqueur de réponse à la chimiothérapie. / Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and the third leading cause of cancer mortality in France. Since 2004, docetaxel is the standard treatment for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). However, nearly half of treated patients develop resistance to chemotherapy. The aim of my thesis is to identify molecular predictors to select patients who will respond to docetaxel chemotherapy. My second goal is to identify new therapeutic targets to overcome this resistance, by studying the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of resistance.To this purpose, genes and microRNAs expression profiles were established in several cellular models of docetaxel-resistant prostate cancer. The integration of these high-throughput data suggested that the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was involved in the mechanism of docetaxel resistance. Deciphering the EMT mechanism observed in our cellular models allowed the identification of SHISA3 as a new regulator of this process. SHISA3 is highly under-expressed in docetaxel resistant cells which present a mesenchymal phenotype. Interestingly, SHISA3 is also down-regulated in a large variety of human tumors. The inhibition of SHISA3 in sensitive cells induced a complete EMT, characterized by loss of cellular junctions, expression of mesenchymal transcription factors, and increased migratory capacity. The study of its mechanism of action allowed us to highlight the interaction of SHISA3 with TGFβRII. We showed in docetaxel-resistant cells that pharmacological inhibition of the TGFβ signalling pathway induces sensitization to docetaxel, demonstrating the importance of the regulation of this pathway in the resistance to chemotherapy.In parallel, we developed a docetaxel-resistant prostate cancer model in mice. The establishment of this model is critical for the preclinical validation of new targeted therapies. Tumors obtained from this new model are characterized by the under-expression of SHISA3 and the expression of EMT markers. This model will allow the validation of the therapeutic potential of co-treatment with docetaxel and TGFβ signalling pathway inhibitors in vivo. Interestingly, we observed that SHISA3 expression is correlated with response to docetaxel treatment in vivo. These results suggest that SHISA3 could be a biomarker of response to docetaxel chemotherapy.

Trop souvent diagnostiqués à des stades tardifs du fait de leur quasi asymptomatie, les adénocarcinomes séreux ovariens posent un véritable problème de santé publique. Malgré les progrès récents de prise en charge chirurgicale, l’émergence d’une maladie résiduelle microscopique chimiorésistante impacte grandement le pronostic des patientes.Le microenvironnement tumoral est un acteur clé de la progression tumorale et de l’émergence de résistances aux traitements anticancéreux. Durant ces travaux de thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés à deux composants majeurs du stroma tumoral, d’une part les cellules souches mésenchymateuses, d’autre part les cellules endothéliales.Nous avons pu démontrer que les cellules souches mésenchymateuses participent à la progression tumorale et l’émergence de résistances. Enfin nous avons démontré que les cellules endothéliales, via la production de facteurs angiocrines, participent à la chimiorésistance des cellules tumorales ovariennes.Dans ce travail, nous avons pu définir de nouvelles cibles thérapeutiques mettant en jeu la relation entre les cellules tumorales ovariennes et l’hôte. / Ovarian cancers constitute a poor prognosis disease. Due to their absence of symptoms, ovarian cancers are generally diagnosed at late stages. Despite major breakthrough regarding ovarian cancer surgery, minimal residual disease-induced relapse is still a hurdle for clinicians.Tumor microenvironment is a key actor on disease progression and resistance to therapy. In this study, we have focused on two major components of the tumor stroma, on one hand, the mesenchymal stem cells, and the endothelial cells on the other hand.We were able to demonstrate that mesenchymal stem cells are critically involved in ovarian cancer progression and resistance to therapy, while the endothelium, through production of angiocrine factors, is deeply involved in resistance of ovarian cancer cells to platinum and taxane based therapy.Here, we set forth the idea that disrupting the relationship between ovarian cancer cells and their host stroma constitute a new therapeutic window.

Resistance to cisplatin (CDDP)-based therapy is a major hurdle to the successful treatment of human ovarian cancer (OVCA) and the chemoresistant phenotype in OVCA cells is associated with Akt-attenuated, p53-mediated apoptosis. Pro-apoptotic functions of p53 involve both transcription-dependent and -independent signaling pathways and dysfunctional localization and/or inactivation of p53 contribute to the development of chemoresistance. PARC is a cytoplasmic protein regulating p53 subcellular localization and subsequent function. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms regulating PARC. Although PARC contains putative caspase-3 cleavage sites, and CDDP is known to induce the activation of caspases and calpains and induce proteasomal degradation of anti-apoptotic proteins, if and how PARC is regulated by CDDP in OVCA is unknown. Here we present evidence that CDDP promotes calpain-mediated PARC down-regulation, mitochondrial and nuclear p53 accumulation and apoptosis in chemosensitive but not resistant OVCA cells. Inhibition of Akt is required to sensitize chemoresistant cells to CDDP in a p53-dependent manner, an effect enhanced by PARC down-regulation. CDDP-induced PARC down-regulation is reversible by inhibitor of calpain but not of caspase-3 or the 26S proteasome. Furthermore, in vitro experiments confirm the ability of calpain in mediating Ca2+-dependent PARC down-regulation. The role of Ca2+ in PARC down-regulation was further confirmed as ionomycin induced PARC down-regulation in both chemosensitive and chemoresistant ovarian cancer cells. The data presented here implicates the regulation of p53 subcellular localization and apoptosis by PARC as a contributing factor in CDDP resistance in OVCA cells and Ca2+/calpain in PARC post-translational processing and chemosensitivity.

Resistance to cisplatin (CDDP)-based therapy is a major hurdle to the successful treatment of human ovarian cancer (OVCA) and the chemoresistant phenotype in OVCA cells is associated with Akt-attenuated, p53-mediated apoptosis. Pro-apoptotic functions of p53 involve both transcription-dependent and -independent signaling pathways and dysfunctional localization and/or inactivation of p53 contribute to the development of chemoresistance. PARC is a cytoplasmic protein regulating p53 subcellular localization and subsequent function. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms regulating PARC. Although PARC contains putative caspase-3 cleavage sites, and CDDP is known to induce the activation of caspases and calpains and induce proteasomal degradation of anti-apoptotic proteins, if and how PARC is regulated by CDDP in OVCA is unknown. Here we present evidence that CDDP promotes calpain-mediated PARC down-regulation, mitochondrial and nuclear p53 accumulation and apoptosis in chemosensitive but not resistant OVCA cells. Inhibition of Akt is required to sensitize chemoresistant cells to CDDP in a p53-dependent manner, an effect enhanced by PARC down-regulation. CDDP-induced PARC down-regulation is reversible by inhibitor of calpain but not of caspase-3 or the 26S proteasome. Furthermore, in vitro experiments confirm the ability of calpain in mediating Ca2+-dependent PARC down-regulation. The role of Ca2+ in PARC down-regulation was further confirmed as ionomycin induced PARC down-regulation in both chemosensitive and chemoresistant ovarian cancer cells. The data presented here implicates the regulation of p53 subcellular localization and apoptosis by PARC as a contributing factor in CDDP resistance in OVCA cells and Ca2+/calpain in PARC post-translational processing and chemosensitivity.

Resistance to cisplatin (CDDP)-based therapy is a major hurdle to the successful treatment of human ovarian cancer (OVCA) and the chemoresistant phenotype in OVCA cells is associated with Akt-attenuated, p53-mediated apoptosis. Pro-apoptotic functions of p53 involve both transcription-dependent and -independent signaling pathways and dysfunctional localization and/or inactivation of p53 contribute to the development of chemoresistance. PARC is a cytoplasmic protein regulating p53 subcellular localization and subsequent function. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms regulating PARC. Although PARC contains putative caspase-3 cleavage sites, and CDDP is known to induce the activation of caspases and calpains and induce proteasomal degradation of anti-apoptotic proteins, if and how PARC is regulated by CDDP in OVCA is unknown. Here we present evidence that CDDP promotes calpain-mediated PARC down-regulation, mitochondrial and nuclear p53 accumulation and apoptosis in chemosensitive but not resistant OVCA cells. Inhibition of Akt is required to sensitize chemoresistant cells to CDDP in a p53-dependent manner, an effect enhanced by PARC down-regulation. CDDP-induced PARC down-regulation is reversible by inhibitor of calpain but not of caspase-3 or the 26S proteasome. Furthermore, in vitro experiments confirm the ability of calpain in mediating Ca2+-dependent PARC down-regulation. The role of Ca2+ in PARC down-regulation was further confirmed as ionomycin induced PARC down-regulation in both chemosensitive and chemoresistant ovarian cancer cells. The data presented here implicates the regulation of p53 subcellular localization and apoptosis by PARC as a contributing factor in CDDP resistance in OVCA cells and Ca2+/calpain in PARC post-translational processing and chemosensitivity.

La mucine MUC1 est une oncoprotéine transmembranaire dont la surexpression dans 90% des adénocarcinomes pancréatiques a été associée à un mauvais pronostic. MUC1 est impliquée dans la transduction des signaux intracellulaires et dans les interactions cellulaires permettant de conférer aux cellules tumorales des propriétés accrues en termes de prolifération et d’invasion cellulaire. De plus il a été montré un rôle important de MUC1 dans la chimiorésistance à la gemcitabine, et dans la transition épithélio-mésenchymateuse des cellules cancéreuses pancréatiques. De manière intéressante il a pu être montré que MUC1 pouvait être internalisée et localisée dans le compartiment nucléaire afin d’agir comme un co-activateur transcriptionnel permettant de moduler l’expression de nombreux gènes comme ceux de la voie Wnt/β-caténine, les cibles de Stat1/3 ou le cluster miR-200c/miR141. De plus, il a été démontré que MUC1 pouvait être régulé de façon épigénétique, par méthylation de son promoteur, par acétylation des histones et par les miARN.Notre objectif a été d’étudier l'inhibition de MUC1 par des miARN dérégulés dans le cancer pancréatique, afin de proposer une nouvelle stratégie thérapeutique innovante dans le but de ralentir la progression de ce cancer. Nous avons sélectionné des miARN pouvant cibler la mucine MUC1 aussi bien au niveau de son 3’UTR, de son 5’UTR ou de sa région codante par l'utilisation des bases de données miRanda, miRWalk et TargetScan. Afin d’affiner cette sélection, nous avons ensuite retenu seulement ceux étant dérégulés dans le cancer pancréatique en étudiant leur expression dans des lignées cellulaires cancéreuses pancréatiques humaines ainsi que dans un modèle murin transgénique de cancérogenèse pancréatique et dans les tissus de patients atteints d'adénocarcinome pancréatique.Nous avons dans un premier temps mis en évidence que parmi les miARN sélectionnés, la surexpression de miR-29a, miR-183, miR-200a, miR-330-5p, miR-876-3p et miR-939 entraînait une diminution de l'expression protéique de MUC1. En établissant le profil d'expression des miARN dans les trois modèles de cancer pancréatique dont nous disposions, nous avons pu mettre en évidence une dérégulation globale de miR-29a et miR-330-5p dans les lignées cellulaires cancéreuses pancréatiques humaines ainsi que chez les patients atteints d'adénocarcinome pancréatique, et une dérégulation plus spécifique pour les autres miARN. Nous avons alors pu mettre en évidence que parmi l'ensemble des miARN sélectionnés, seuls les miARN miR-29a et miR-330-5p avaient la capacité d’interagir avec l'ARNm de MUC1 au niveau de son 3’UTR. Nous avons donc entrepris dans un second temps d’étudier le rôle de miR-29a et miR-330-5p dans le cancer du pancréas. Pour cela, nous avons utilisé une stratégie transitoire de surexpression et d'inhibition des miARN et une stratégie stable en réalisant des lignées surexprimant les miARN ainsi qu’une lignée déficiente en MUC1. Nous avons pu mettre en évidence que la surexpression de miR-29a et miR-330-5p, permettait de ralentir la prolifération cellulaire, la migration, l'invasion cellulaire, la croissance tumorale et augmentait la chimiosensibilité des cellules cancéreuses pancréatiques à la gemcitabine. En conclusion, l'ensemble de ces données a permis de mettre en évidence un ensemble de miARN dérégulés dans le cancer du pancréas ayant la capacité de réguler négativement l'expression protéique de la mucine MUC1. Nous avons également montré que miR-29a et miR-330-5p étaient les seuls à réguler directement l'expression de MUC1 et qu’ils agissaient comme des suppresseurs de tumeurs en altérant les propriétés biologiques des cellules cancéreuses pancréatiques, in vitro et in vivo. Ces données nous permettent de proposer ces deux miARN comme une nouvelle piste thérapeutique potentielle pour le traitement de ce cancer. / The mucin MUC1 is a transmembrane oncoprotein overexpressed in 90% of pancreatic adenocarcinoma and associated with a poor prognosis. MUC1 is involved in cell signaling and cell interaction to enhanced tumor cell properties like cell proliferation and invasion. Furthermore it has been shown an important role of MUC1 in chemoresistance to gemcitabine, the basic treatment of pancreatic cancer, and in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of pancreatic cancer cells. Interestingly it has been shown that MUC1 could be internalized and localized in the nuclear compartment to act as a transcriptional coactivator to modulate the expression of many genes such as the Wnt/β-catenin, the targets of Stat1/3 or the miR-200c/miR141 cluster. Furthermore, it has been shown that MUC1 is regulated by epigenetics: by methylation of the promoter, histone acetylation and by miRNAs in breast and ovarian cancer.Our aim was to study the inhibition of MUC1 by miRNAs deregulated in pancreatic cancer, to propose a new innovative therapeutic strategy to slow down progression of this cancer.We selected miRNAs targeting the mucin MUC1, in its 3\\\'UTR, its 5\\\'UTR or its coding region by using databases such as Miranda, miRWalk and TargetScan. To refine this selection, we then selected only those being deregulated in pancreatic cancer by studying their expression in human pancreatic cancer cell lines, tissues from patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and transgenic mouse model of early pancreatic carcinogenesis.We initially demonstrated that among the selected miRNAs, overexpression of miR-29a, miR-183, miR-200a, miR-330-5p, miR-and miR-939 876-3p led to a decrease of MUC1 protein expression. By establishing the miRNA expression profile in the three models of pancreatic cancer that we had, we were able to demonstrate an overall deregulation of miR-29a and miR-330-5p in human pancreatic cancer cell lines and in patients with a pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and a more specifically deregulation for the other miRNAs.We were then able to show that among the selected miRNAs, only miRNAs miR-29a and miR-330-5p had the ability to interact with MUC1 mRNA on its 3\\\'UTR. We therefore undertook to study the role of miR-29a and miR-330-5p in pancreatic cancer. For this, we used a transient strategy to overexpress or inhibit miRNAs and stable cell lines overexpressing the miRNA as well as a deficient cell line for MUC1. We were able to show that overexpression of miR-29a and miR-330-5p slowed down cell proliferation, migration, cell invasion, tumor growth and increased chemosensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells to gemcitabine.In conclusion, all these data allowed us to identify a set of deregulated miRNAs in pancreatic cancer which have the ability to decrease the mucin MUC1 protein expression level. We also showed that miR-29a and miR-330-5p were the only ones that can regulate the expression of MUC1 directly and act as tumor suppressors by altering the biological properties of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. These data allow us to propose these two miRNAs as a new potential therapeutic approach for the treatment of this cancer.

Resistance to cisplatin (CDDP)-based therapy is a major hurdle to the successful treatment of human ovarian cancer (OVCA) and the chemoresistant phenotype in OVCA cells is associated with Akt-attenuated, p53-mediated apoptosis. Pro-apoptotic functions of p53 involve both transcription-dependent and -independent signaling pathways and dysfunctional localization and/or inactivation of p53 contribute to the development of chemoresistance. PARC is a cytoplasmic protein regulating p53 subcellular localization and subsequent function. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms regulating PARC. Although PARC contains putative caspase-3 cleavage sites, and CDDP is known to induce the activation of caspases and calpains and induce proteasomal degradation of anti-apoptotic proteins, if and how PARC is regulated by CDDP in OVCA is unknown. Here we present evidence that CDDP promotes calpain-mediated PARC down-regulation, mitochondrial and nuclear p53 accumulation and apoptosis in chemosensitive but not resistant OVCA cells. Inhibition of Akt is required to sensitize chemoresistant cells to CDDP in a p53-dependent manner, an effect enhanced by PARC down-regulation. CDDP-induced PARC down-regulation is reversible by inhibitor of calpain but not of caspase-3 or the 26S proteasome. Furthermore, in vitro experiments confirm the ability of calpain in mediating Ca2+-dependent PARC down-regulation. The role of Ca2+ in PARC down-regulation was further confirmed as ionomycin induced PARC down-regulation in both chemosensitive and chemoresistant ovarian cancer cells. The data presented here implicates the regulation of p53 subcellular localization and apoptosis by PARC as a contributing factor in CDDP resistance in OVCA cells and Ca2+/calpain in PARC post-translational processing and chemosensitivity.