O câncer cervical é considerado um grande problema de saúde pública e um dos maiores causadores de mortes relacionadas a tumores em mulheres. O principal objetivo desta tese foi aumentar a eficácia antitumoral terapêutica da proteína gDE7 por meio da associação de adjuvantes vacinais em formulações testadas em condições experimentais com a linhagem celular tumoral TC-1. A proteína gDE7 foi produzida a partir de uma linhagem de E. coli e associada a diferentes adjuvantes. A proteína gDE7 coadministrada ao poly(I:C) conferiu proteção antitumoral completa aos camundongos previamente desafiados e induziu ativação de linfócitos T CD8+ E7-específicos polifuncionais, citotóxicos e de fenótipo de memória efetora/efetor. Foi demonstrado que a proteína gDE7 ativa de forma específica a subpopulação de células dendríticas especializada na apresentação cruzada de antígenos para linfócitos T CD8+, tanto em camundongos como em seres humanos. Esses resultados abrem perspectivas para o emprego da proteína gD como plataforma vacinal para o controle de tumores induzidos pelo HPV-16. / Cervical cancer is considered a major public health problem and one of the leading causes of cancer death in women. The main goal of this thesis was the improvement of a therapeutic antitumor vaccine based on gDE7 protein in formulations admixed with adjuvants under experimental conditions with the tumor cell line TC-1. The gDE7 protein was expressed and purified from E. coli, and then tested in combination with different vaccine adjuvants. The gDE7 protein admixed with poly(I:C) conferred complete therapeutic antitumor protection to mice previously challenged with TC-1 cells and induced polyfunctional, cytotoxic E7-specific CD8+ T cells with effector/effector memory phenotype. It was also demonstrated that the gDE7 protein activated a specialized dendritic cell subset involved in specific antigen cross-presentation to CD8+ T cells, both in mice and humans. These results open perspectives for the use of the gD protein use as a vaccine platform for the control of HPV-16-induced tumors.

Production of vaccines and pharmaceutical proteins in plants is a promising nascent technology with a great potential to provide high-quality, safe and non-expensive production and delivery platform. In this work we studied the experimental vaccine against human papillomavirus based on modified plant pathogen - Potato virus X (PVX). The experimental vaccine is based on PVX virus particles decorated with genetically fused HPV-E7 oncoprotein. These chimeric virus particles should be able to activate strong and specific cellular immune response. However the modification of the PVX coat protein with such relatively large fused protein might influence its ability to form particles. In this work we have characterized some properties of such chimeric virus particles like solubility or ability infect host plant. (In Czech)

No description available.

The latest model of tertiary structure of capsid protein of potato virus X (PVX CP) was used as a template to design new insertion sites suitable for the preparation of PVX-based antigen presentation system. Based on this model, seven insertion sites (A-G) located in putative surface loops were tested. As an antigen inserted into these sites was used 17 amino acids long epitope derived from human papillomavirus type 16 E7 oncoprotein (E7 epitope) fused with either 6xHis tag or StrepII tag in both possible orientations (6xHis-E7 and E7-6xHis, StrepII-E7 and E7-StrepII). Prior to plant expression, modified PVX CPs were expressed in Escherichia coli MC1061. The results showed that only PVX CP carrying StrepII-E7 or E7-StrepII in the insertion site A formed virus particles. The results from transient expression experiments with modified PVX CPs in Nicotiana benthamiana showed that only the insertion site A (located between 24th and 25th amino acid in the PVX CP) could tolerate all tested inserts. Importantly, viral particles were detected only in the presence of StrepII tag and their stability was affected by the insert orientation (StrepII-E7 vs. E7-StrepII) as only the viral particles presenting E7-StrepII could be purified. Besides the preparation of PVX-based antigen presentation system, an...

A infecção por papilomavírus humano (HPV) é o principal fator de risco para o desenvolvimento de neoplasias intra-epiteliais cervicais, as lesões precursoras do carcinoma da cérvice uterina. O fator de necrose tumoral-α (TNF-α) é um dos principais mediadores da inflamação da pele e das mucosas. Esta citocina é capaz de inibir a proliferação de queratinócitos normais e imortalizados por HPV-16. Por outro lado, queratinócitos imortalizados por HPV-18 ou transformados por HPV 16 ou 18 são resistentes aos efeitos do TNF-α. Entretanto, a base molecular desta diferença ainda é pouco conhecida. No presente estudo observamos o aumento dos níveis do inibidor de quinases p21, diminuição dos níveis de ciclina A e a ativação do fator NF-κB após tratamento com TNF-α, apenas em células sensíveis à citocina. Por outro lado não foi observada alteração dos níveis de p16, p27, p65, ciclinas D1, E e CDKs -4 e -6 em nenhuma das linhagens estudadas. Culturas organotípicas (rafts) de queratinócitos normais apresentaram uma acentuada inibição da proliferação após o tratamento com TNF-α. Isso não foi observado em rafts de queratinócitos infectados com o genoma completo de HPV-18. Entretanto, as culturas organotípicas transduzidas com vetores retrovirais contendo o gene viral E7 apresentaram um fenótipo intermediário, indicando que a proteína E7 desempenha um papel na resistência a esta citocina. / Infection by Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the major etiologic factor in the development of cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia, the precursor of carcinoma of the uterine cervix. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) is one of the main mediators of skin and mucosa inflamation and has a potent anti-proliferative effect on normal and HPV16 immortalized keratinocytes. On the other hand, HPV-18 immortalized and HPV-16 or -18 transformed keratinocytes are resistant to TNF-α. However the molecular basis of this difference is not well understood. In the present study we observed and increase in the CDK inhibitor p21, reduced levels of cyclin A and activation of NF-κB factor only in cells sensitive to this cytokine. Conversely, no alterations in the p16, p27, p65, cyclins D1, E and CDKs -4 and -6 levels was observed in any of the cell lines analyzed. Proliferation of normal primary human keratinocytes (PHK) raft cultures was markedly inhibited after treatment with TNF-α. This was not observed in cultures transfected with HPV-18 whole genome. Cultures transduced retroviral vectors carrying the E7 viral gene showed an intermediate phenotype suggesting that this protein contribute to TNF-α resistance.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-07-12T15:20:04Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Tese_Elyda Gonçalves_PPGG_2016.pdf: 2873444 bytes, checksum: a341f8fc45a442c022975db79d659268 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-12T15:20:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Tese_Elyda Gonçalves_PPGG_2016.pdf: 2873444 bytes, checksum: a341f8fc45a442c022975db79d659268 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-11 / CAPES / O câncer da mama é o tipo de câncer que mais acomete mulheres em todo o mundo. Diversos fatores estãoassociados ao desenvolvimento desta neoplasia, dentre elas as infecções virais. Entre os três vírus mais estudados como causa de carcinogênese mamária está oPapillomavirus humano (HPV). Assim, oobjetivo foi detectar e analisar o HPV emcarcinomasmamáriosde mulheres do Nordeste do Brasil. A detecção do DNA viral foi realizada PCR, as amostras positivasforam tipificadas por sequenciamento. A quantificação da carga viral e a determinação do status físico por qPCR, e a detecção as oncoproteínas de E6 e E7 de HPV por imunohistoquímica. O DNA de HPV foi detectado em 46,7% dos carcinomas de mama HPV-positivos. O HPV16foi omais prevalente, 92% dos casos. A carga viral do HPV apresentou uma média de 14,2 cópias em 104 células, noscarcinomas de mama. Além disso, em 57,2% dos carcinomas mamáriosHPV-positivas apresentaram o DNA viral integrado ao genoma do hospedeiro. Altas taxas de detecção das oncoproteínas E6(89,5%) e E7(90%) foram identificadas nos carcinomas de mama HPV-positivos. Já as proteínas supressoras de tumor, p53 e p16INK4A, apresentaram taxas menores 95,7% e 92,3% respectivamente. Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que o vírus esteja em atividade nas células tumorais e provavelmente desempenhem papel na carcinogênese mamária. / Breast cancer is the type of cancer that affects more women around the world. Several factors are associated with the development of cancer, among which viral infections. Of the three most-studied virus as a cause of mammary carcinogenesis is the Human papillomavirus (HPV). The objective was to detect and analyze HPV in breast carcinomas of women in northeastern Brazil. The detection of viral DNA was performed PCR positive samples were typed by sequencing. The quantification of viral load and to determine the physical status by qPCR, and detection of the oncoproteins E6 and HPV E7 by immunohistochemistry. HPV DNA was detected in 46.7% of HPV-positive breast carcinomas. HPV16 was the most prevalent, 92% of cases. The HPV viral load averaged 14.2 copies in 104 cells in breast carcinomas. Furthermore, 57.2% of HPV-positive breast carcinomas showed the integrated viral DNA into the host genome. High rates of detection of E6 (89.5%) and E7 (90%) were identified in HPV-positive breast tumors. Already the tumor suppressor protein p53 and p16INK4a, had lower rates 95.7% and 92.3% respectively. The results of this study suggests that the virus is active in tumor cells and probably play role in breast carcinogenesis.

A infecção por papilomavírus humano (HPV) é o principal fator de risco para o desenvolvimento de neoplasias intra-epiteliais cervicais, as lesões precursoras do carcinoma da cérvice uterina. O fator de necrose tumoral-α (TNF-α) é um dos principais mediadores da inflamação da pele e das mucosas. Esta citocina é capaz de inibir a proliferação de queratinócitos normais e imortalizados por HPV-16. Por outro lado, queratinócitos imortalizados por HPV-18 ou transformados por HPV 16 ou 18 são resistentes aos efeitos do TNF-α. Entretanto, a base molecular desta diferença ainda é pouco conhecida. No presente estudo observamos o aumento dos níveis do inibidor de quinases p21, diminuição dos níveis de ciclina A e a ativação do fator NF-κB após tratamento com TNF-α, apenas em células sensíveis à citocina. Por outro lado não foi observada alteração dos níveis de p16, p27, p65, ciclinas D1, E e CDKs -4 e -6 em nenhuma das linhagens estudadas. Culturas organotípicas (rafts) de queratinócitos normais apresentaram uma acentuada inibição da proliferação após o tratamento com TNF-α. Isso não foi observado em rafts de queratinócitos infectados com o genoma completo de HPV-18. Entretanto, as culturas organotípicas transduzidas com vetores retrovirais contendo o gene viral E7 apresentaram um fenótipo intermediário, indicando que a proteína E7 desempenha um papel na resistência a esta citocina. / Infection by Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the major etiologic factor in the development of cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia, the precursor of carcinoma of the uterine cervix. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) is one of the main mediators of skin and mucosa inflamation and has a potent anti-proliferative effect on normal and HPV16 immortalized keratinocytes. On the other hand, HPV-18 immortalized and HPV-16 or -18 transformed keratinocytes are resistant to TNF-α. However the molecular basis of this difference is not well understood. In the present study we observed and increase in the CDK inhibitor p21, reduced levels of cyclin A and activation of NF-κB factor only in cells sensitive to this cytokine. Conversely, no alterations in the p16, p27, p65, cyclins D1, E and CDKs -4 and -6 levels was observed in any of the cell lines analyzed. Proliferation of normal primary human keratinocytes (PHK) raft cultures was markedly inhibited after treatment with TNF-α. This was not observed in cultures transfected with HPV-18 whole genome. Cultures transduced retroviral vectors carrying the E7 viral gene showed an intermediate phenotype suggesting that this protein contribute to TNF-α resistance.

IGFBP-3 expressing rekombinant vaccinia viruses used for tumor therapy Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) is a major regulator of endocrine effects of IGF and is capable to suppress the growth of variety of cancer. Several studies have shown that IGFBP-3 can induce the apoptosis of cancer cells via IGF-dependent and IGF-independent mechanisms. In our study, we have constructed recombinant vaccinia viruses (VACV) expressing IGFBP-3 under the control of the early H5 and synthetic early/late (E/L) promoter to investigate the potential effect on cancer growth in our cervical cancer model. We have shown that the expression of IGFBP-3 alone had no effect on tumor growth. On the other hand, the co-expression of IGFBP-3 enhanced the anti-cancer effect of immunization with the fusion protein SigE7LAMP, which gave rise to the anti-cancer immunity directed against HPV16 induced tumors. We have shown that the double-recombinant P13-SigE7LAMP-H5-IGFBP-3 can enhance the protective immune responses against MK16/ABC induced tumors. Furthermore, we have show that both double-recombinant viruses P13-SigE7LAMP-H5- IGFBP-3 and P13-SigE7LAMP-E/L-IGFBP-3 can increase the anti-cancer effect of SigE7LAMP expression in the therapy of TC-1 induced tumors. Key words: IGFBP-3, IGF, VACV, HPV16, E7 oncoprotein,...

A common problem within positron emission tomography examinations of the brain is the motion of the patient. If the patients ́ head moves during an examination all the data acquired after the movement will not be suited for clinical use. This means that a lot of data recovered from PET is not used at all. Motion tracking during PET acquisitions of the brain is not a well explored issue within medical imaging in relation to the magnitude of the problem. Due to the radiation risks of the examination and the logistics at the hospital, a second acquisition is not preferred. Therefore a method to avoid a second acquisition would be welcome. PET data saved in list mode makes it possible to analyze the data during an examination. By calculating the center of mass of the object examined in list mode only using the raw data from PET and use it as a tracking point, it would be possible to track a motion during an acquisition. The center of mass could therefore possibly be used as a reference to connect two different time intervals on each side of the moment were the motion occurred. The raw PET data used for this project was acquired in the Nuclear Medicine Department in Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge and covered four turns of one minute acquisitions in different positions and with two different objects that were saved in list mode. The acquisitions were analyzed with the Siemens software e7-tools and sliced into time intervals. To calculate the center of mass within these time intervals, two methods were developed. One method only used the Siemens software e7-tools and histogrammed the time of flight bin position. The other method used each event position in its sinogram to calculate a center of mass sinusoidal equation. This equation lead to coordinates describing the center of mass in a specific slice. / Ett vanligt problem inom positronemissiontomografiundersökningar av hjärnan är rörelser från patienten. Om patienten rör sitt huvud under undersökningen kommer all förvärvad data inte vara kliniskt lämpad. Detta innebär att en stor del av datan från en PET-undersökning inte används över huvud taget. Rörelsespårning under PET undersökningar av hjärnan är ett relativt outforskat ämne inom medicinsk bildgivning i relation till amplituden av problemet. På grund av strålningsrisken av un- dersökningen och logistiken på sjukhusen, är en andra bildtagning inte att föredra. Därför skulle en metod för att undvika en andra bildtagning vara uppskattad. PET-rådata sparad i list mode möjliggör analys av data inom tidsspektrat av en undersökning. Genom att beräkna det undersökta objektets barocentrum genom att enbart använda rådata sparad i list mode och använda detta som en referenspunkt, så finns en möjlighet att följa en rörelse under en undersökning. Objektets barocentrum skulle kunna fungera som en referenspunkt för att binda ihop två olika tidsegment på varsin sida om tillfället då en rörelse har skett. Rådatan som användes i detta projekt var förvärvad vid nukleärmedicinska avdelningen på Karolinska Universetetssjukhuset i Huddinge och täckte fyra stycken undersökningar på en minut vardera i olika positioner och två olika objekt som sparades i list mode. Datainsamlingarna över- sattes med Siemens-mjukvaran e7-tools och delades sedan upp i tidsegment. För att räkna ut ett barocentrum i dessa tidssegment så utvecklades två metoder. En metod använde sig enbart av Siemens-mjukvaran e7-tools och använde dess funktion ”histogramming” för att dela upp alla events time of flight position. Den andra metoden använde varje events position i dess sinogram för att beräkna en barocentrisk sinusformad funktion. Denna funktion ledde till koordinater som beskrev masscentrum i en specifik skiva.

Modulation of the tumor microenvironment represents a possible way to inhibit cancer growth and enhance anti-cancer immune responses. In the presented work we employ two strategies for tumor microenvironment modulation. Firstly, we have constructed rVACV co-expressing the tumor suppressor gene insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP- 3) and the fusion gene encoding the immunogen SigE7LAMP. The expression of IGFBP-3 was regulated either by the early vaccinia virus H5 promoter or by the synthetic early/late (E/L) promoter. We have shown that expression of IGFBP-3 regulated by the H5 promoter yielded higher amounts of IGFBP-3 protein when compared with the E/L promoter. Immunization with P13-SigE7LAMP-H5-IGFBP-3 was more effective in inhibiting the growth of TC-1 tumors in mice and elicited a higher T-cell response against VACV-encoded antigens than the control virus P13-SigE7LAMP-TK- . We found that high-level production of IGFBP-3 enhanced virus replication both in vitro and in vivo, resulting in profound antigen stimulation. Production of IGFBP-3 was associated with a higher adsorption rate of P13-SigE7LAMP-H5-IGFBP-3 to CV-1 cells when compared with P13-SigE7LAMP-TK- . We have identified two structural differences between the IMVs of the IGFBP-3 expressing virus P13-SigE7LAMP-H5-IGFBP-3...