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Obesity is a rapidly growing epidemic in the USA and worldwide. While the molecular and cellular mechanism of obesity is incompletely understood, studies have shown that excess adiposity may arise from increased adipogenesis (hyperplasia) and adipocyte size (hypertrophy) . Emerging evidence underscores autophagy as an important mediator of adipogenesis and adiposity. We are interested in the upstream regulator of adipocyte autophagy and how it impacts adipocyte biology. Given that metabolic stress activates transcription factor FoxO1 in obesity, my dissertation project is designed to depict the role of FoxO1 in adipocyte autophagy and biology. We found that FoxO1 upregulation was concomitant with elevation of autophagy activity during adipogenesis. Inhibition of FoxO1 suppressed autophagy flux and almost completely prevented adipocyte differentiation. For the first time, we found that the kinetics of FoxO1 activation followed a series of sigmoid curves that showed multiple activation-inactivation transitions during adipogenesis. Our study provides critical evidence casting light on the controversy in the literature that either persistent inhibition or activation of FoxO1 suppresses adipogenesis. In addition, we identified two central pathways that FoxO1-mediated autophagy regulated adipocyte biology: (1) to control lipid droplet growth via fat specific protein 27 (FSP27) in adipocytes; and (2) to differentially regulate mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCP) that have been implicated in browning of white adipose tissue and redox homeostasis. Mechanistically, FoxO1 appears to induce autophagy through the transcription factor EB (Tfeb), which was previously shown to regulate both autophagosome and lysosome. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay demonstrated that FoxO1 directly bound to the promoter of Tfeb, and inhibition of FoxO1 attenuated the binding, which resulted in reduced Tfeb expression. To investigate the role of FoxO1 in vivo, we have developed mouse models to modulate FoxO1 in adipose tissue using an inducible Cre-loxP system. Tamoxifen is widely used to activate the inducible Cre recombinase that spatiotemporally control target gene expression in animal models, but it was unclear whether tamoxifen itself may affect adiposity and confounds phenotyping. Part of my dissertation work was to address this important question. We found that tamoxifen led to reduced fat mass independent of Cre, which lasted for 4-5 weeks. Mechanistically, Tamoxifen induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and augmented apoptosis. Our data reveals a critical period of recovery following tamoxifen treatment in the study of inducible knockout mice. Together, my dissertation work demonstrates FoxO1 as a critical regulator of adipocyte autophagy via Tfeb during adipogenesis. FoxO1-mediated autophagy controls FSP27, lipid droplet growth, and mitochondrial uncoupling proteins. Further study of FoxO1-autophagy axis in obese subjects is of physiological significance, and the investigation is under way. / Ph. D.

Les lymphocytes T (LT) perçoivent et intègrent en permanence des signaux solubles et cellulaires, conditionnant leur comportement et leur devenir. A l'état de repos, les propriétés des LT s'appuient sur un réseau moléculaire caractéristique, au sein duquel les facteurs de transcription FoxOs jouent un rôle majeur. En effet, ces derniers sont impliqués dans le maintien de la quiescence et de la capacité circulatoire des LT, de par le profil transcriptionnel qu'ils induisent. Nous avons identifié Fam65b comme une nouvelle cible transcriptionnelle de FOXO1. D'un point de vue fonctionnel, nous avons démontré que Fam65b régule négativement le seuil de prolifération des LT en réponse à une stimulation du récepteur à l'antigène (TCR) ou du récepteur aux chimiokines CCR7. In vivo, dans un modèle de souris transgénique pour le TCR, ces caractéristiques fonctionnelles se traduisent par une réponse secondaire plus efficace en absence de Fam65b. Physiologiquement, la moindre expression de Fam65b que nous avons observé dans les LT mémoires par comparaison aux LT naïfs corrèle avec leur plus grande réactivité. L'ensemble de ces résultats suggère que Fam65b pourrait être un marqueur fonctionnel des LT mémoires. Enfin, nous avons pu démontrer que les effets fonctionnels de Fam65b résultent d'une inhibition de l'activité de RhoA.Fam65b est donc un régulateur de la quiescence et de la migration des LT. De par son rôle de régulateur de l'activité de RhoA, Fam65b constitue un nouveau lien fonctionnel entre deux familles majeures, contrôlant la physiologie des LT : les Rho-GTPases et les FoxOs.

Strategies aimed at expanding functional beta cell mass remain a prime goal of diabetes research. Both the insulin signaling pathway, as well as the G1/S transition of the cell cycle are critically important for the maintenance of beta cell mass. We previously demonstrated in a mouse model of diabetes, insulin receptor substrate 2 (Irs2) deficient mice, that beta cell failure was attributed to reduced islet expression of Cyclin D2, and that overexpressing Cyclin D2 rescued proliferation in Irs2 deficient beta cells in vitro. Since Cyclin D2 partners with CDK4 to drive cell cycle progression, we hypothesized that an activated form of CDK4, Cdk4-R24C (resistant to inhibition by the INK4A cell cycle inhibitor p16), would rescue the in vivo proliferation defect in Irs2 deficient mice. Interestingly, Irs2 knockout mice with the active Cdk4 R24C allele, displayed rescued blood glucose, and normalized glucose tolerance, without affecting peripheral insulin resistance. I found that both and beta cell mass and proliferation were rescued in vivo, contributing to the rescue of glucose tolerance. Interestingly, the dedifferentiated phenotype of Irs2 knockout islets (ALDH1A3+ cells, nuclear FOXO1 and suppressed PDX1) was completely restored with the active Cdk4 allele, suggesting that CDK4 may play a role in promoting beta cell differentiation. Utilizing various in vitro models where FOXO1 represses Pdx1, overexpression of CDK4/CyclinD2 was consistently able to rescue the FOXO1-mediated repression of Pdx1, without significant impacts on FOXO1 subcellular localization. These results suggested that FOXO1 regulation in the beta cell is more complex than previously described, and also suggested that CDK4/Cyclin D2 may be instead modulating the acetylation status of FOXO1, impacting its transcriptional activity. To this end, inhibiting histone acetylate transferases (HATs) partially rescued FOXO1-mediated Pdx1 suppression, while inhibiting histone deacetylase enzymes (HDACs) showed the reverse effect of trending towards blocking the Cyclin D2/CDK4-mediated rescue of Pdx1. Finally, I found that CDK4/Cyclin D2 increases phosphorylation of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), an HDAC that modulates the acetylation status, and transcriptional activity of FOXO1, and that CDK4/Cyclin D2 promotes FOXO1 degradation. In sum, we conclude that activated CDK4 rescues beta cell failure due to IRS2 deficiency through multiple mechanisms related to not only cell cycle regulation but also to beta cell differentiation status, primarily through modulation of FOXO1 transcriptional activity.