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published_or_final_version / Physiology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Regulatory T (Treg) cells represent an important layer of immune-regulation indispensible for curtailing exuberant inflammatory responses and maintaining self-tolerance. Treg cells have translational potential for autoimmunity, inflammation, transplantation and cancer. Therefore, delineating the molecular underpinnings underlying the development, suppressor function and stability of Tregs is particularly warranted. The transcriptional repressor Bcl6 is a critical arbiter of helper T cell fate, promoting the follicular helper (Tfh) lineage while repressing Th1, Th2 and Th17 differentiation. Bcl6-deficient mice develop a spontaneous and severe Th2-type inflammatory disease including myocarditis and pulmonary vasculitis, suggesting a potential role for Bcl6 in Treg cell function. Bcl6-deficient Treg cells are competent in controlling Th1 responses, but fail to control Th2 inflammation in an airway allergen model. Importantly, mice with Bcl6 deleted specifically in the Treg lineage develop severe myocarditis, thus highlighting a critical role for Bcl6 in Treg-mediated control of Th2 inflammation. Bcl6-deficient Tregs display an intrinsic increase in Th2 genes and microRNA-21 (miR-21) expression. MiR-21 is a novel Bcl6 gene target in T cells and ectopic expression of miR-21 directs Th2 differentiation in non-polarized T cells. MiR-21 is up-regulated in mouse models of airway inflammation and also in human patients with eosinophilic esophagitis and asthma. Thus, miR-21 is a clinically relevant biomarker for Th2-type pathologies. Our results define a key function for Bcl6 in repressing Gata3 function and miR-21 expression in Tregs, and provide greater understanding of the control of Th2 inflammatory responses by Treg cells.

Ce travail a été consacré à l’étude non invasive de la circulation pulmonaire normale par mise en œuvre de l’échocardiographie Doppler. <p>En intégrant les mesures obtenues dans une approche physiopathologique, et en exploitant les nouvelles possibilités d’échocardiographes portables, techniquement performants, nous avons analysé les effets d’un inhibiteur de la phosphodiestérase-5 et d’une prostacycline, pour tenter d’en identifier d’éventuels effets introtropes intrinsèques, nous avons exploré le concept de réserve vasculaire pulmonaire comme facteur limitant de l’aptitude aérobie et indice potentiel d’une atteinte vasculaire pulmonaire précoce, et obtenu des résultats préliminaires permettant d’identifier une hypertension artérielle pulmonaire (HTAP) latente. Nos principaux résultats peuvent être résumés comme suit :<p>1. Chez le sujet sain, en normoxie ou dans un modèle expérimental d’HTAP induite par l’inhalation d’un mélange gazeux hypoxique, le sildenafil per os ou l’epoprostenol par voie intraveineuse, à des doses utilisées en clinique pour le traitement de l’HTAP, améliorent les indices de la fonction ventriculaire droite en proportion de leurs effets vasodilatatoires pulmonaires, sans effets inotropes intrinsèques détectables.<p>2. La consommation d’oxygène maximale du sujet sain augmente en raison directe de son volume capillaire pulmonaire (calculé à partir de sa capacité de diffusion pour l’oxyde nitrique et le monoxyde de carbone) et en raison inverse de sa résistance vasculaire pulmonaire, non seulement en altitude, mais aussi au niveau de la mer. Ce résultat suggère qu’une plus grande réserve vasculaire pulmonaire est propice aux efforts aérobiques intenses, probablement par moindre postcharge ventriculaire droite.<p>3. Des mesures réalisées chez un petit nombre de sujets suggèrent que la distensibilité vasculaire pulmonaire, calculée à partir d’une relation débit-pression vasculaire pulmonaire, est typiquement réduite chez des porteurs asymptomatiques de la mutation BMPR2, qui est actuellement le facteur de risque le plus élevé connu de l’HTAP. La mutation BMPR2 pourrait aussi être associée à une réactivité vasculaire pulmonaire accrue à l’hypoxie. <p>Nos résultats suggèrent indirectement que l’échocardiographie Doppler, de repos ou de stress, pourrait être davantage développée dans la mise au point de patients à risque d’HTAP./<p><p>Novel advances in echocardiography offer the opportunity to reliably characterize pulmonary circulation in terms of pressure-flow relationship, and to better understand the coupling of right ventricular (RV) function with normal and abnormal pulmonary hemodynamics. Moreover, when combined with the measurement of pulmonary capillary blood volume, this renewed methodological approach may help to understand the concept of pulmonary vascular reserve as a limiting factor of exercise capacity and potential sensitive marker of early vascular disease.<p><p>In the present work we used a model of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction to analyse the effects of two targeted therapies of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) on the RV function. We showed that the beneficial effects of these drugs are mainly driven by a decrease in RV afterload and not an enhanced myocardial inotropic state. Whether this is transposable to abnormal RV-arterial coupling in PAH patients remains to be investigated.<p><p>Echocardiography may be useful to explore the pulmonary vascular reserve as an important limiting factor of exercise capacity. We showed that a higher pulmonary vascular reserve, defined by a decreased PVR and increased lung diffusing capacity, allows for an improved aerobic exercise capacity (as assessed by a higher peak oxygen consumption), at a lower ventilatory cost, at sea level and at high altitude. <p><p>Stress echocardiography may detect an abnormal pulmonary vasoreactivity. We showed that asymptomatic relatives of patients suffering from idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, and who carry a bone morphogenetic protein receptor type 2 mutation (BMPR2) present with a decreased pulmonary vascular distensibility and an enhanced pulmonary vasoreactivity to hypoxia, which are identifiable by echocardiography examination. However, the predictive value of these findings is not known. <p><p>Thus echocardiography may represent, in experienced and dedicated hands, a noninvasive, safe, widely available, applicable at the bed-side as well as in extreme environment (e.g. high altitudes), less expensive alternative for the evaluation of the pulmonary circulation, either by the interrogation of pressure-flow relationship (stress echocardiography), by the investigation of the right ventricle global and regional function in relation to its afterload (standard and Tissue Doppler Imaging), or by a combined approach with the measurement of lung diffusing capacity (DLNO / DLCO) to assess the pulmonary vascular reserve.<p><p>The present data are encouraging for further development and implementation of echocardiography for the detection, but also the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with pulmonary hypertension.<p><p> / Doctorat en Sciences médicales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished