The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is a member of the nuclear hormone receptors family and has been shown to exert significant effects on the induction of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes responsible for the metabolism of many xenobiotics. CYP3A4/5 and CYP2C9 are important CYP enzymes which metabolise more that 60% of drugs. Induction or inhibition of the enzymatic activity and the levels of these enzymes can have significant effects on drug metabolism. Understanding the role of GR and other nuclear receptors, pregnane X receptor (PXR) and the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR), in the mechanisms effecting CYP3A4/5 and CYP2C9 levels and activity can aid in the development of in vitro and in vivo models which have become a target for scientists in the clinic and the industry. The commonly prescribed synthetic glucocorticoid (GC) drug, dexamethasone (Dex), can induce GR, PXR and CAR and was used in this study to analyse its effects on the CYP enzymes studied. The hypothesis of this project was that changes in CYP3A4/5 and CYP2C9 gene expression affect drug metabolism and changes in gene expression of these CYP enzymes was under GR, PXR and CAR control, thus affecting the concentration and therapeutic activity of drugs metabolized by these enzymes during chronic use of GCs in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. This study aimed to measure mRNA, protein, ROS and enzymatic activity levels in human HepG2 hepatocytes treated with Dex for 120 h and analyze the results for various time points to produce a mathematical model. Our study has shown that changes in mRNA, protein and enzymatic activity levels of CYP3A4/5 and CYP2C9 in HepG2 cells were induced by Dex at sub-micromolar (0.1 µM) and supra-micromolar (1.5 mM) concentrations. The induction of CYP3A4/5 and CYP2C9 enzymes during 120 h treatment with Dex may be affected by the NRs studied; GR, phosphorylated GR, PXR and CAR protein levels were also shown to be induced by Dex. The efflux transporter, P-gp’s protein levels were also induced by 0.1 µM Dex, highlighting the importance of considering bioavailability of other drugs co-administered with Dex. The results of some of these laboratory experiments have been used to produce mechanistic mathematical models by MATLAB software with reference to previous studies in rats concentrating on the effects of steroids on GR. The models developed were not effective at the lower Dex concentration of 0.1 µM but were better modelled at the higher Dex concentration of 1.5 mM. The basic mechanistic models developed using HepG2 cells in this study can be utilised to design and conduct drug-drug interaction (DDI) analyses of the induction of CYP3A4/5 and CYP2C9 in other human liver cells and starting pre-clinical studies in animals to aid in drug development.

La signalisation stéroïdienne médiée par des récepteurs nucléaires est impliquée dans de nombreux processus ayant trait au développement des animaux. La compréhension de ces phénomènes est importante pour répondre à des questions de santé publique, d’agronomie ou de biologie de la conservation. Ceci nécessite de connaître et de mettre en relation l’évolution des récepteurs qui fixent ces stéroïdes et des voies de synthèse qui produisent les stéroïdes. Mon travail s’est articulé autour de trois grands axes. 1. La mise à jour des relations de parenté entre les récepteurs nucléaires impliqués dans la fixation des stéroïdes, mais aussi de ceux qui sont impliqués dans la régulation de la stéroïdogenèse, pour comprendre quand et dans quel contexte cette machinerie est apparue. 2. La démonstration que les enzymes impliquées dans la stéroïdogenèse étaient apparues indépendamment par recrutement d’enzymes à spécificité de substrat plus large impliquées dans la détoxification des xénobiotiques. 3. L'élucidation des relations de parenté entre des voies métaboliques, montrant que les voies de la stéroïdogenèse avaient évolué comme des voies de dégradation du cholestérol. Ces résultats aboutissent à un modèle dans lequel la signalisation hormonale des animaux à symétrie bilatérale serait l’héritière de voies de détoxification de molécules stéroïdiennes contenues dans leur alimentation. Ce modèle expliquerait le couplage entre l’accumulation de nutriments et la maturation sexuelle, ainsi que les nombreux dérèglements touchant à la fois le métabolisme et la reproduction dus aux perturbateurs endocriniens ou à certaines molécules thérapeutiques. / Nuclear receptor mediated steroid signaling is involved in many processes in metazoandevelopment, such as puberty in vertebrates, molting in insects and entry into infective stage in some parasitic nematodes. Understanding those phenomena is important regarding public health, agronomical and conservation biology issues. This necessitates to know and to explore the interactions between the evolution of steroid-binding receptors and steroid-synthesizing pathways. My work was articulated around three major parts. First, using the historical expertise of the laboratory, I updated the relationships between nuclear receptors that are involved in steroid binding, but also from all those that are involved in steroidogenesis regulation, in order to elucidate when and in which context this machinery has arisen. Second, using a classical comparative genomic approach, I showed that the steroidogenetic enzymes have appeared independently by duplication from xenobiotic-metabolizing enzyme with a wider range of substrate specificity.Third, I explored the relationships between metabolic pathways using tools from comparative anatomy. This has confirmed and completed the previous results, showing that steroidogenetic pathways have evolved with the pattern of cholesterol degradation pathways.The synthesis of all these results has led to an evolutionary model where hormonal signaling in bilaterian animals has been inherited from the detoxification of dietary sterols. This model may explain the coupling between nutrient accumulation and sexual maturation, and also the link between metabolic disorders and endocrine disruption due to environmental chemicals or drugs.

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-02-23T12:27:50Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Rodrigo Bernini de Brito - 2015.pdf: 2201255 bytes, checksum: a184a6bcdb4f9d15e5944a689b43f0e5 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-02-23T12:33:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Rodrigo Bernini de Brito - 2015.pdf: 2201255 bytes, checksum: a184a6bcdb4f9d15e5944a689b43f0e5 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-23T12:33:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Rodrigo Bernini de Brito - 2015.pdf: 2201255 bytes, checksum: a184a6bcdb4f9d15e5944a689b43f0e5 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-26 / The aim of pharmacogenetics is to understand the hereditary basis of therapeutic response and side effects of pharmacological agents for each individual. Antipsychotics and antidepressants are effective drugs for schizophrenia and major depressive disorder (MDD) treatment, respectively. Although a number of patients respond satisfactorily to antipsychotics and antidepressants, 20-40% of them present inadequate response, and the treatment with ineffective medication may take weeks of unremitted illness, potential adverse drug reactions and nonadherence to treatment. This study aims to identify polymorphisms in genes that potentially influence the treatment response to clozapine in schizophrenic patients and the treatment with escitalopram in MDD patients. This approach involved the study of CYP1A2 and CYP2C19 genes related to the metabolism of these drugs and which may to affect the efficacy of treatment. It was studied 54 schizophrenic patients taking clozapine and 31 patients with MDD treated with escitalopram, both for long term. The investigated polymorphisms, CYP1A2*1F in schizophrenic patients and CYP2C19*2 and CYP2C19*17 in depressive patients, were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), followed by sequencing (CYP1A2*1F) or by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) (CYP2C19*2 and *17) techniques. The results pointed for the association between CYP1A2*1F polymorphism and super-refractory clozapine treatment and for the association between CYP2C19*17 polymorphism and the decreased response to escitalopram treatment. No association was observed between CYP2C19*2 and the response to escitalopram treatment. These findings suggest that these genetic variants have an important influence on the treatment effectiveness of antipsychotics and antidepressants in psychiatric disorders, as schizophrenia and MDD. The pharmacogenetics may be useful to the psychiatrists helping in the choice of drugs and doses more efficient for each patient, reducing suffering and costs and contributing to improve the quality of life for patients and families. / A farmacogenética busca compreender a base hereditária da variabilidade da resposta e dos efeitos adversos dos agentes farmacológicos entre os indivíduos. Os medicamentos antipsicóticos e antidepressivos são utilizados em tratamentos bastante efetivos para a esquizofrenia e transtorno depressivo maior (TDM), respectivamente. Embora boa parte dos pacientes responda às terapias com antipsicóticos e antidepressivos, 20-40% mostram resposta inadequada, e o custo de cada tentativa de medicação não-efetiva para os pacientes pode levar a semanas de permanência da doença, ocorrência de efeitos adversos potenciais e nãoaderência ao tratamento. Este estudo teve como objetivo identificar polimorfismos genéticos que podem potencialmente influenciar a resposta ao tratamento à clozapina em pacientes esquizofrênicos e ao escitalopram em pacientes com TDM. Essa abordagem envolveu o estudo de genes das enzimas metabolizadoras de fármacos CYP1A2 e CYP2C19, potencialmente envolvidas no metabolismo desses fármacos e que podem afetar a eficácia do tratamento. Foram estudados 54 pacientes esquizofrênicos em uso de clozapina e 31 pacientes com TDM em tratamento com escitalopram, ambos por longo prazo. Os polimorfismos investigados, CYP1A2*1F em pacientes esquizofrênicos e CYP2C19*2 e CYP2C19*17 em pacientes depressivos, foram estudados por métodos baseados na reação em cadeia da polimerase (PCR) seguido por sequenciamento (CYP1A2*1F) ou pela técnica de polimorfismo no comprimento de fragmentos de restrição (RFLP) (CYP2C19*2 e *17). Os resultados encontrados apontam a associação do polimorfismo CYP1A2*1F com a super-refratariedade ao tratamento à clozapina e a associação do polimorfismo CYP2C19*17 com resposta diminuída ao tratamento com escitalopram. Não foi encontrada associação entre o polimorfismo CYP2C19*2 e a resposta ao tratamento ao escitalopram. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que as variantes genéticas CYP1A2*1F e CYP2C19*17 podem desempenhar um papel importante na efetividade do tratamento com antipsicóticos e antidepressivos em transtornos psiquiátricos incapacitantes como a esquizofrenia e o TDM. A farmacogenética pode auxiliar na psiquiatria como ferramenta para a escolha de medicamentos e doses mais adequadas para cada paciente, diminuindo o sofrimento, reduzindo custos e trazendo qualidade de vida a pacientes e familiares.

Secondary bacterial superinfections have been a significant source of debilitating morbidity and mortality outcomes during both seasonal influenza outbreaks and historical pandemics. As many as 40% of those infected with influenza that develop a secondary bacterial infection such as S. aureus or S. pneumoniae will succumb to the infection. The complex relationships between the immune system, the pathogens, and host response makes this facet of biomedical research a topic of continual discoveries. During superinfection, there is a novel hypothesis that the failure of resolution causes a cascade of uncontrolled inflammatory responses leading to excessive morbidity or death. Here, we investigate a specific metabolite receptor, PPARα, and how its induction during superinfection affects the host immune response and the ability to resolve the infection. During superinfections, previous studies from our lab has found that the CYP450 metabolites are produced in abundance compared to their respective levels during singular viral or bacterial infections. These metabolites furthermore induced PPARα, which has been found to enhance necroptosis during superinfection conditions. Understanding programming of cell death provides insights on the resulting inflammation during an active infection. We further examined PPARα properties by inducing it without the presence of pathogens and found PPAR’s mechanisms to be context dependent. When PPARα is stimulated solely with a chemical agonist WY14643, the induction drives macrophages to apoptosis. When we started examining PPARα induction while inducing programmed cell death profiles, we found that the effect of PPARα to be uninfluential to apoptosis, but highly influential in necroptotic cell death. Latest studies associate very long chain fatty acid accumulation in cells undergoing necroptosis, and fatty acid isolation and analysis was completed. Fatty acid isolation showed an accumulation of ceramides and a significant decrease of both vital eicosanoid precursors and cell membrane associated phospholipids. In these studies, we next examined how induction of PPARα affects macrophage immune response and ultimately hinders resolution of infection. In vivo animal studies showed that macrophages were polarizing toward anti-inflammatory M2 phenotypes during the superinfection. When flow cytometry studies were performed to examine if metabolites stimulating PPARα were responsible for this change, we found that macrophages were polarizing to the M2b phenotype. This finding has been highly intriguing to our studies, as M2b macrophages are most abundantly present when resolution occurs in influenza infection and mice have successfully produced anti-influenza antibodies. Further examination was done to see how macrophage immune response was affected. Using Nanostring and examining PPARα activated macrophages via microscopy, several cytokines and chemokines for immune response were dampened. Microscopy specifically showed the nuclear localization of NFκB is effectively diminished during PPAR activation, demonstrating that the immune response is impaired. Finally, macrophage function was considered and analyzed by CFU assays and live cell microscopy. Both indicated that phagocytosis was impaired in macrophages, but microscopy elucidated that there was a lack of bacterial killing due to PPAR activation. Understanding the mechanisms of superinfection and how to effectively ameliorate them has potential to not only reduce the amount of morbidity and mortality around influenza each year, but advance the understandings of how these different systems come together in other immune contexts. The understanding of programmed cell-death, inflammatory gene networks, immune response and function all have changed by lipid profiling and how these metabolites can influence traditionally well studied systems. Having a greater appreciation for how metabolites induce immune, transcriptional, or cellular changes, as well as how metabolites and lipid profiling can be altered would be groundbreaking for inflammation research of several diseases and conditions that are not fully understood. / Biomedical Sciences

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

O miclobutanil é fungicida quiral da família dos triazóis, comercializado como mistura racêmica. Apesar dos enantiômeros apresentarem as mesmas propriedades físico-químicas, estes podem diferir em termos de atividade, metabolismo, excreção e toxicidade. No presente trabalho, foram realizados estudos in vitro enantiosseletivos de metabolismo empregando microssomas hepáticos de humanos cujos objetivos foram determinar os parâmetros cinéticos das enzimas do citocromo P450 (CYP450) após metabolismo do miclobutanil (na forma de racemato e enantiômeros isolados), determinar quais isoformas do CYP450 são responsáveis pelo metabolismo do praguicida e também a capacidade deste praguicida em inibir as principais enzimas do CYP450. Os estudos foram realizados empregando a mistura racêmica e também os enantiômeros isolados. Para tanto, foi desenvolvido e validado um método para análise enantiosseletiva do miclobutanil em meio microssomal empregando a cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência acoplada a espectrometria de massas. A separação dos enantiômeros foi realizada na coluna Chiralpak AD® empregando metanol (100%) como fase móvel. Após a validação do método, os parâmetros cinéticos foram determinados, com valores de Vmáx, Km e CLint de 66,06 + 4,59 nmol min-1 mg-1, 3,61 + 0,88 ?mol L-1 e 18,30 mL min-1 mg-1 respectivamente, quando o substrato foi o racemato e de 305,50 + 18,39 nmol min-1 mg-1, 6,85 + 1,29 ?mol L-1 e 44,60 mL min-1 mg-1 respectivamente, quando o (+)-miclobutanil foi empregado como substrato. O (?)-miclobutanil não foi metabolizado pelas enzimas presentes nos microssomas hepáticos de humanos. As isoformas responsáveis pelo metabolismo do miclobutanil foram a CYP2C19 e a CYP3A4. Os estudos in vitro de inibição mostraram que o miclobutanil é um inibidor moderado das enzimas CYP2D6 e CYP2C9 um inibidor forte das enzimas CYP3A4/5 e CYP2C19. / Myclobutanil is a chiral triazole fungicide, sold as a racemic mixture. Although the enantiomers have the same physico-chemical properties, they may exhibit different bioactivity, metabolism, excretion and toxicity. In the present work, in vitro enantioselective metabolism studies were carried out by using human liver microsomes, aiming to determine the kinetic parameters of cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes after myclobutanil metabolism and the main CYP450 isoforms involved in the metabolism. In addition, the myclobutanil inhibition capacity over the main CYP450 enzymes was evaluated. The studies were carried out with rac-myclobutanil as well as with the isolated enantiomers. To accomplish that, an enantioselective method for myclobutanil analysis was developed and validated by using high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The separation of enantiomers was realized on a Chiralpak AD® column and methanol (100%) was used as mobile phase. The enzymatic kinetics, Vmáx, Km and CLint, were: 66.06 + 4.59 nmol min-1 mg-1, 3.61 + 0.88 ?mol L-1 and 18.30 mL min-1 mg-1, respectively, for rac-myclobutanil and 305.50 + 18.39 nmol min-1 mg-1, 6.85 + 1.29 ?mol L-1 and 44.60 mL min-1 mg-1, respectively, for the (+)-myclobutanil. The (?)-myclobutanil was not metabolized by CYP450 enzymes. The isoforms involved in myclobutanil metabolism were CYP2C19 and CYP3A4. In vitro inhibition studies showed that myclobutanil is a medium inhibitor of CYP2D6 and CYP2C9 enzymes and a strong inhibitor of CYP3A4/A5 and CYP2C19 enzymes.

A piplartina (PPT) ou piperlongumine é um produto natural da classe dos alcaloides encontrada em espécies da família Pipereaceae. Devido a sua alta potência e seletividade na inibição de diversas linhagens de células tumorais, a PPT têm sido investigada como um potencial candidato à fármaco. Neste contexto, estudos relacionados à sua toxicidade e segurança devem ser realizados, incluindo a determinação do papel das enzimas do Citocromo P450 (CYP450) sobre o metabolismo da PPT. Esta família de enzimas é responsável pela biotransformação de cerca de 75% dos fármacos presentes no mercado. Os estudos pré-clínicos que visam avaliar o metabolismo podem ser realizados empregando modelos in vitro como uma ferramenta para predição de características farmacocinéticas in vivo. Assim, o presente estudo teve como objetivo a avaliação do perfil metabólico da PPT frente as enzimas do CYP450 empregando-se estudos in vitro com microssomas hepáticos humanos (HLM) e a posterior predição de parâmetros farmacocinéticos. Estes estudos incluíram a determinação de parâmetros enzimáticos, estudos de inibição da PPT sobre as principais isoformas do CYP450, elucidação estrutural de metabólitos gerados com a reação de metabolismo e, finalmente, estudos de fenotipagem enzimática. A metodologia geral de estudo de metabolismo in vitro envolveu o uso de técnicas cromatográficas acopladas a diversos detectores/analisadores, tais como arranjo de diodos, espectrometria de massa e ressonância magnética nuclear. O metabolismo foi avaliado pela medida da taxa de desaparecimento da PPT do meio microssomal. Após validação da metodologia para quantificação da PPT e determinação das condições de velocidade inicial de reação, um perfil sigmoidal foi obtido, indicando o metabolismo da PPT por enzimas contendo múltiplos sítios ativos e/ou catálise por diversas enzimas concomitantemente. Os parâmetros cinéticos calculados foram Vmax = 5,5 ± 0,5 nmol mg proteína-1 min-1, S50 = 127,70 ?mol L-1 e Coeficiente de Hill (h) = 3. O clearance intrínseco obtido foi de 22,68 ?L min -1 mg -1. A fração não ligada às proteínas plasmáticas e microssomais foi de 0,07 e 0,76, respectivamente. O clearance in vivo predito foi de 19,79 mL min -1 kg -1, o clearance hepático de 1,89 mL min -1 kg -1 e extração hepática de 0,09. Dentre quatro isoformas avaliadas, CYP3A, CYP2C9, CYP2D6 e CYP1A2, a PPT demonstrou um potencial em causar interação produto natural-medicamento apenas sobre a CYP1A2. A PPT é um inibidor competitivo dose-dependente da CYP1A2, apresentando um valor de Ki de 1,5 ?mol L-1. A razão [I]/Ki obtida de 9,1 prediz uma interação relevante in vivo. Além disso, a PPT apresentou uma inibição tempo-dependente sobre a CYP1A2 com valores de KI de 8 ?mol L-1 e kinact de 0,014 min-1. A inibição dose-, ii NADPH- e tempo-dependente confirmam uma inibição baseada no mecanismo em que o modo pelo qual a PPT liga-se à enzima é irreversível. Baseado nos dados obtidos pelas análises por espectrometria de massa e ressonância magnética nuclear, quatro metabólitos gerados após metabolismo da PPT com HLM tiveram suas estruturas propostas. Assim, foram caracterizados os metabólitos M1 (produto de uma desmetilação na posição meta do anel 3,4,5-trimetoxicinâmico), M2 (produzido por uma epoxidação entre o C3 e C4 do anel lactâmico), M3 (gerado através de uma oxidação no C5 do anel lactâmico) e, finalmente, M4 (produto de uma reação transdiidrodiol entre C3 e C4). O metabólito M4 é formado tardiamente (após 40 min de reação) e provavelmente é um metabólito secundário produzido a partir de M2 através de uma reação trans-diidrodiol. O estudo de fenotipagem demonstrou que as principais isoformas que contribuem para o metabolismo da PPT são a CYP1A2 (formação de M1) e a CYP3A4 (formação de M2 e M3). O emprego das isoformas recombinantes demonstrou a formação de M4 a partir da catálise por diversas isoformas, CYP2C19, CYP2C8, CYP2D6, CYP2B6 e CYP2E1. Portanto, o perfil metabólico do candidato a agente antitumoral PPT frente às enzimas do CYP450 foi demonstrado neste trabalho, proporcionando aspectos relacionados à segurança e eficácia desta substância. Os dados apresentados certamente servirão como guia em estudos clínicos futuros / Piplartine (PPT) or Piperlongumine is a naturally occurring alkaloid found in species of Pipereaceae family. Due its high potency and selectivity of inhibition of several cancer cell lines, PPT has been investigated as a potential drug candidate. In this context, studies related with toxicity and safety should be performed, including the role of the Cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes in PPT metabolism. This family of enzymes is responsible for the biotransformation of 75% of the drugs in the market. The preclinical studies that aim to evaluate the drug metabolism can be performed by employing in vitro models as a tool for prediction of in vivo pharmacokinetic characteristics. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate the metabolic profile of PPT after metabolism by CYP450 enzymes employing in vitro studies with human liver microsomes (HLM) and the ensuing prediction of pharmacokinetic parameters. These studies embraced the kinetic parameters determination, inhibition ability of PPT over the most important CYP450 isoforms, structural elucidation of the produced metabolites after metabolism reaction and, finally, the enzymatic phenotyping study. The general procedure for in vitro metabolism studies consisted of the use of chromatographic techniques coupled to different detectors/analyzers, such as diode array, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance. The metabolism was evaluated measuring the rate of disappearance of the PPT from de microsomal medium. After method validation for PPT quantification and determination of initial velocity conditions, the enzymatic kinetics with a sigmoidal profile indicating a metabolism of PPT by enzymes with multiple active sites and/or metabolism by multiple CYP450 enzymes was observed. The following parameters were calculated: Vmax = 5.5 ± 0.5 nmol/mg protein/min, S50 = 127.7 ?mol/L, and Hill coefficient of 3.0. The intrinsic clearance was 22.68 ?L min -1 mg -1. The unbound fraction of PPT on plasmatic and microsomal proteins was 0.07 and 0.76, respectively. The predicted in vivo clearance was 19.79 mL min -1 kg -1, the hepatic clearance was 1.89 mL min -1 kg -1 and the hepatic extraction was 0.09. Among 4 isoforms evaluated, CYP3A, CYP2C9, CYP2D6 and CYP1A2, a potential natural product-drug interaction for only CYP1A2 isoenzyme by PPT was observed. PPT showed to be a competitive and dosedependent inhibitor of CYP1A2, showing a Ki value of 1.5 ?mol L-1. The ratio [I]/Ki of 9.1 predicts an important in vivo interaction. Furthermore, a time-dependent inhibition of CYP1A2 with a KI of 8 ?mol L-1 and a kinact of 0.014 min-1 by PPT was demonstrated. The dose-, time- and NADPH-dependent inhibition confirms an inhibition based on mechanism through an irreversible bond. Based on results obtained from the mass spectrometry analysis and from the nuclear magnetic resonance analysis, four metabolites were identified and characterized. The metabolites characterized were: M1 (product of a demethylation in the 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl portion, M2 (derived from an epoxidation between C3 and C4 on the lactone ring), M3 (product of a simple oxidation on C5 of lactone ring), and finally M4 (derived from a dihydrodiol reaction between C3 and C4). The metabolite M4 is produced later (after 40 min of reaction) and probably is a secondary metabolite produced from M2 through a dihydrodiol reaction. The phenotyping study demonstrated that the main isoforms involved in PPT metabolism are CYP1A2 (production of M1) and CYP3A4 (production of M2 and M3). The recombinant isoforms study demonstrated that several isoforms (CYP2C19, CYP2C8, CYP2D6, CYP2B6 and CYP2E1) catalyze the production of M4. In summary, a wide view about the metabolism of the promising drug candidate PPT by CYP450 enzymes was accomplished. These results, certainly, will be a useful guide for further clinical studies of PPT

O Glioblastoma (GBM) é um astrocitoma grau IV, representando o glioma de maior malignidade e o tumor cerebral primário mais frequente em humanos. A terapia indicada para o GBM é a ressecção cirúrgica, quimioterapia e radioterapia, todas com baixíssima eficiência devido a agressividade e as características do GBM. Consequentemente, a sobrevida dos pacientes indicados aos tratamentos convencionais é pouco mais de um ano. A inflamação é, sabidamente, uma das características que participa de modo decisivo do desenvolvimento tumoral, incluindo do GBM, e as relações entre mediadores inflamatórios e câncer são alvos de pesquisa nos últimos anos. Diversos estudos apontam um papel da via dos eicosanoides na modulação de processos patológicos envolvidos na inflamação e no câncer. Os eicosanoides são mediadores lipídicos bioativos, envolvidos em diversos processos fisiológicos e patológicos, em especial os associados à resposta inflamatória. As principais vias de produção de eicosanoides (ciclooxigenases, lipoxigenases, e citocromo P450), assim como seus produtos, são frequentemente alterados em diversos tipos de tumor, associados ao crescimento e a progressão tumoral. Contudo, o perfil dessas vias é consideravelmente pouco compreendido em GBM. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar in vitro o perfil e o papel das três vias de eicosanoides e seus produtos (eicosanoides ou não) nas linhagens de GBM (U251-MG, U87-MG, A172, T98G e U138-MG), modulando a atividade de enzimas chaves com drogas especificas para, então, analisar parâmetros de proliferação, migração e morte celular. Nossos resultados mostram, em todas as linhagens analisadas, um perfil heterogêneo das enzimas e receptores chaves das três vias. O perfil lipídico evidencia a produção de 13-HODE, produto de 15-lipoxigenase-1 em todas as linhagens, bem como ausência de leucotrienos e 5-HETE do eixo de 5-lipoxigenase. Os inibidores farmacológicos para 15-LOX e 12-LOX/15-LOX foram capazes de reduzir o crescimento, modular o ciclo celular e a migração celular das linhagens U251-MG, U87-MG e A172. O mesmo é visto com a inibição de mPGES-1. A inibição de 5-LOX por outro lado não afetou nenhum parâmetro nas mesmas linhagens. Todos os resultados apontam, portanto, para um papel do eixo de 15-LOX e COX no crescimento e na migração das células de GBM humano. / Glioblastoma (GBM) is a grade IV astrocytoma, the most malignant and the most frequent primary brain tumour in humans. Standard therapies for treating GBM are surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, all with low efficiency due to GBM aggressiveness and characteristics. Therefore, patient survival after conventional treatments is about one year. Inflammation is one of the main characteristics that plays a decisive role in tumour development, including in GBM. The relationships between inflammatory mediators and cancer have been the subject of research in recent years. Several studies point to the eicosanoid pathways as modulators of pathological processes between inflammation and cancer. Eicosanoids are bioactive lipid mediators, involved in various physiological and pathological processes, especially those associated with the inflammatory response. The major eicosanoid pathways (cyclooxygenases, lipoxygenases, and cytochrome P450) as well as their products, are frequently altered in several tumours, associated with tumour growth and progression. However, the profile of these pathways is poorly understood in GBM. The objective of this study was to analyse, in vitro, the profile and role of eicosanoid pathways and their products (eicosanoids or not) in GBM cell lines (U251-MG, U87-MG, A172, T98G and U138-MG), modulating the key enzymes with inhibitors, analysing proliferation, migration and cell death. Our results show, in all analysed cell lines, a heterogeneous profile for the key enzymes and receptors of the three pathways. The lipid profile shows the production of 13-HODE, a product of 15-lipoxygenase-1, as well the absence of leukotrienes and 5-HETE of the 5-lipoxygenase axis. The pharmacological inhibitors for 15-LOX and 12-LOX / 15-LOX led to changes in cell cycle, reduced growth, reduced migration of U251-MG, U87-MG and A172 cell lines. The same was seen with the inhibition of mPGES-1. Inhibition of 5-LOX, on the other hand, did not affect any of these parameters in the same cell lines. All results, therefore, point to an important role of 15-LOX and COX pathways in the growth and migration of human GBM cells.

Les cancers du foie et du pancréas sont classés parmi les cancers les plus fréquents et agressifs à travers le monde et présentent une résistance à la chimiothérapie. L'efficacité des médicaments anticancéreux est affectée par les activités des enzymes métaboliques, transporteurs membranaires et par l’environnement tumoral. Le but de notre thèse est 1) de développer un modèle cellulaire hépatique et caractériser les mécanismes sous-jacents de la modulation de l’expression et de la fonctionnalité des transporteurs membranaires et des enzymes clés qui régissent le métabolisme des médicaments et 2) d’évaluer in vitro, dans différents modèles cellulaires (hépatique et pancréatique) en 2D et 3D, l’effet apoptotique de médicaments anticancéreux associés à des polyphénols en vue d’optimiser leur activité. Dans une première partie, nous avons mis en place une nouvelle lignée cellulaire hépatique humaine dérivée des HepG2, stable, exprimant suffisamment et significativement les enzymes CYP450 et les transporteurs hépatiques (MRP2, MDR1 et OATP1B1). Ce modèle pourrait être un outil de choix pour des études précliniques de métabolisme et de prédiction d’hépatotoxicité. Dans une deuxième partie, nous avons pu voir que les cellules pancréatiques et hépatiques dans un environnement 3D sont plus prédictives d’une tumeur in vivo et peuvent être un modèle de choix pour des études pharmacologiques de criblage de nouveaux médicaments anticancéreux ou des stratégies de combinaisons de molécules (avec des PP). Ainsi, nous avons montré que la quercétine, dans les cellules 3D, était capable d’augmenter l’activité de la gemcitabine et de la doxorubicine, en augmentant le taux des cellules mortes jusqu’à 60 %, par modulation des protéines MDR1 et par diminution significative du facteur HIF-1 alpha dans les cellules cancéreuses. En conclusion, les polyphénols peuvent être des molécules d’intérêt en combinaison avec des médicaments anticancéreux pour diminuer la résistance à ces traitements et servir d’outil pharmacologique pour mieux comprendre les mécanismes de résistance des cellules tumorales. / Liver and pancreatic cancers are among the most common and aggressive cancers worldwide that are resistant to chemotherapy. The efficacy of anticancer drugs is affected by the activities of metabolic enzymes, transporters and the tumor environment. The aim of my thesis was based on to main objectives: 1) developement of a hepatic cellular model and characterize the underlying mechanisms of modulation of the expression and functionality of transporters and key enzymes involved in the regulation of drug metabolism 2) study the effect of new strategies in vitro by combining anti-cancer drugs with polyphenols in these processes in order to optimize their activities on different cellular models (hepatic and pancreatic) in 2D and 3D cultures. Our results showed that we have developed a new human hepatic cell line derived from HepG2 cells. The novel cell line is a good in vitro model with a capacity of predicting hepatotoxicity of novel drugs with significant differences for chromosomes 5, 17 and 20 and high expression level of CYP450 and transporters (MRP2, MDR1 and OATP1B1). Secondly, our results indicate that the combination of anticancer drugs and polyphenols increased the rate of apoptosis in cancer cells by up regulation of the expression levels of cleaved caspase-3 and the regulator of apoptosis p53. Moreover, our results demonstrated that polyphenols inhibit the efflux activity of MDR1. In addition, our results indicate that the combination of anti-cancer drugs and quercetin down regulated the expression of HIF-1α and increased the expression levels of the cleaved caspase-3 and p53 on human pancreatic and liver cell line cultured in 3D culture. In conclusion, polyphenols may be promising agents for novel combination therapy since they potentialize the cytotoxic activity of anticancer drugs to eradicate cancer and therefore the cellular resistance.