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Le syndrome de Coffin Lowry est une forme syndromique rare de déficience intellectuelle liée au chromosome X. Ce syndrome est dû à des mutations du gène Rsk2 codant la protéine kinase RSK2 dans la voie de signalisation des MAPK/ERK. La caractérisation phénotypique du modèle murin Rsk2-KO a principalement mis en évidence un retard d’acquisition ainsi qu’un déficit de mémoire spatiale à long terme, suggérant une altération des fonctions hippocampiques. Nous avons montré que les souris Rsk2-KO présentent également des déficits dans une forme d’apprentissage et de mémoire mettant en jeu la fonction de séparation de patterns dépendante du gyrus denté. Plusieurs études montrent que la genèse de nouveaux neurones dans le gyrus denté chez l’adulte constitue une forme de plasticité jouant un rôle important dans l’apprentissage et la mémoire dépendante de l’hippocampe, en particulier dans les tâches spatiales et de séparation de patterns. En raison des déficits observés chez les souris Rsk2-KO, nous nous sommes intéressés à la neurogenèse adulte chez ce modèle murin. Aucune différence de prolifération, de survie ou de maturation n’a été observée dans le gyrus denté des souris Rsk2-KO à l’état basal, ni après une tâche de séparation de patterns. Cependant, nous avons observé un déficit de survie des nouvelles cellules chez les souris Rsk2-KO après apprentissage dans la piscine de Morris. La littérature montre que l’enrichissement environnemental a des effets bénéfiques sur les performances cognitives des rongeurs et est notamment capable d’augmenter la neurogenèse adulte hippocampique. Nous avons donc analysé les effets de l’enrichissement sur les performances comportementales et la neurogenèse adulte des souris Rsk2-KO. Nos résultats montrent qu’un protocole d’enrichissement environnemental de 3 heures par jours durant 24 jours est capable de compenser ou d’améliorer les performances des souris Rsk2-KO dans les tâches de mémoire spatiale et de séparation de patterns et aussi d’augmenter la neurogenèse hippocampique adulte. / The Coffin-Lowry Syndrome is a rare syndromic form of X-linked intellectual disability. This syndrome is caused by mutations of the Rsk2 gene that encodes a protein kinase, RSK2, in the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway. Characterization of the behavioural phenotype of Rsk2-KO mice mainly showed that they display delayed acquisition and long-term deficits in a spatial reference memory task, suggesting an alteration in hippocampal function. Here, we show that Rsk2-KO mice are also deficient in a learning and memory task that involves dentate gyrus-dependent pattern separation function. Several studies showed the formation of new neurons in the adult dentate gyrus by neurogenesis is a form of plasticity that plays a significant role in hippocampal-dependent learning and memory, in particular for spatial learning and memory and pattern separation. As these functions are altered in Rsk2-KO mice, we studied hippocampal adult neurogenesis in these mice. No difference in proliferation, survival and maturation of newborn neurons was found in the dentate gyrus of the mutant mice in basal conditions, nor after a pattern separation task. However, we found a deficit in the survival of newborn cells in Rsk2-KO mice submitted to spatial learning and memory in the Morris water maze task. According to several studies, environmental enrichment in rodents has beneficial effects on cognitive performance and is associated with an enhancement of adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Thus, we assessed the potential effect of environmental enrichment on spatial learning and memory performance and adult hippocampal neurogenesis in Rsk2-KO mice. Our results show that an environmental enrichment protocol of 3h per day during 24 days can rescue or ameliorate spatial learning and memory performance and pattern separation function in Rsk2-KO mice and increase adult hippocampal neurogenesis.

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The ability to adapt to changing environments is a key feature of living cells which is usually mediated by signal transduction pathways. One of these pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae maintains the proper cell wall composition under cell wall remodeling and stress conditions which ensures cell shape and integrity. The pathway is hence commonly referred to as cell wall integrity (CWI) pathway. Five plasma membrane sensors detect surface stress and activate a conserved MAPK cascade through Rom2, Rho1 and Pkc1. Downstream of the cascade, Slt2 activates the transcription factors Rlm1 and SBF. These regulate the expression of genes which are involved in cell wall synthesis and cell cycle control, respectively. The sensors can be grouped into two protein families with Wsc1, Wsc2 and Wsc3 on the one hand and Mid2 and Mtl1 on the other hand. They all contain a highly mannosylated extracellular serine/threonine-rich region (STR), a single transmembrane domain and a cytoplasmic tail. Whereas Wsc-family sensors carry an additional cysteine-rich domain (CRD) headgroup, Mid2 and Mtl1 are N-glycosylated at an asparagine (Kock et al., 2015). A strain deleted in all five sensor genes is not viable and WSC1, WSC2 and MID2 are the main sensor genes to mediate the stress response. Wsc1 and Mid2 show non-overlapping spot-like and network-like localization patterns in the plasma membrane, respectively, whose formation is not governed by their transmembrane domains. Colocalization studies with marker proteins of the known yeast plasma membrane domains “membrane compartment occupied by Can1” (MCC), “membrane compartment occupied by Pma1” (MCP) and the “membrane compartment of the TOR2 complex” (MCT) revealed that Wsc1 forms a distinct plasma membrane domain which is here introduced as “membrane compartment occupied by Wsc1“ (MCW). This microcompartment depends on the cysteine-rich domain (CRD) as sensors mutated in this headgroup accumulate in the vacuole. Blocking endocytosis either by an end3 deletion or by mutation of the NPFDD endocytosis signal in the cytoplasmic tail of Wsc1 restores its signaling function but displays an altered pattern of membrane distribution, changing from spot-like in wild-type to network-like in the mutants. This indicated that clustering may protect the sensor from endocytosis. In addition, Wsc1 has amyloid-like properties suggesting a role in clustering. Accordingly, protein aggregation (clustering) is lost in a mutant of a predicted amyloid motif within the CRD, which also impairs Wsc1 signaling.

Les voies de transduction du signal cellulaire permettent aux cellules de répondre aux signaux de l'environnement et de les traiter. Les voies de transduction de kinases MAP (MAPK) sont bien conservées dans toutes les cellules eucaryotes et sont impliquées dans la régulation de nombreux processus cellulaires importants. Les régions intrinsèquement désordonnées (RID), présentes dans de nombreuses MAPK, n'étaient pas encore structurellement caractérisées. Les RID de MAPK sont particulièrement importantes car elles contiennent des motifs de liaison qui contrôlent les interactions entre les protéines MAPK elles-mêmes et aussi entre les protéines MAPK et d'autres protéines contenant les mêmes motifs. La résonance magnétique nucléaire (RMN) en combinaison avec d'autres techniques biophysiques a été utilisée pour étudier les RID de kinase des voies de transduction du signal MAPK. La spectroscopie RMN est bien adaptée pour l'étude des protéines intrinsèquement désordonnées à l'échelle atomique. Les déplacements chimiques et couplages dipolaires résiduels peuvent être utilisés conjointement avec des méthodes de sélection d'ensemble pour étudier la structure résiduelle dans les RID. La relaxation de spin nucléaire nous renseigne sur les mouvements rapides. Des titrations par RMN et des techniques de spectroscopie d'échange peuvent être utilisées pour surveiller la cinétique d'interactions protéine-protéine. Cette étude contribuera à la compréhension du rôle des RID dans les voies de transduction du signal cellulaire. / Protein signal transduction pathways allow cells respond to and process signals from the environment. A group of such pathways, called mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signal transduction pathways, is well conserved in all eukaryotic cells and is involved in regulating many important cell processes. Long intrinsically disordered region (IDRs), present in many MAPKs, have remained structurally uncharacterised. The IDRs of MAPKs are especially important as they contain docking-site motifs which control the interactions between MAPK proteins themselves and also between MAPKs and other interacting proteins containing the same motifs. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in combination with other biophysical techniques was used to study IDRs of MAPKs. NMR spectroscopy is well suited for studying intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) at atomic-level resolution. NMR observables, such as for example chemical shifts and residual dipolar couplings, can be used together with ensemble selection methods to study residual structure in IDRs. Nuclear spin relaxation informs us about fast pico-nanosecond motions. NMR titrations and exchange spectroscopy techniques can be used to monitor kinetics of protein-protein interactions. The mechanistic insight into function of IDRs and motifs will contribute to understanding of how signal transduction pathways work.

Partículas da exaustão de motores a diesel (DEP) têm propriedades toxicológicas, devido às características físico-químicas. O DEP é capaz de ativar as vias de sinalização intracelular e induzir alterações metabólicas em células e tecidos do sistema respiratório. O objetivo desta tese foi: 1) avaliar o perfil das mucinas e alterações epiteliais em explantes de traqueia de camundongo BALB/c expostos ao DEP e DEP tratado com ácido nítrico e solventes orgânicos; e 2) em cultura de células de epitélio brônquico humano (BEAS-2B) expostas ao DEP e DEP tratado com hexano (DEP/HEX) para avaliar ativação de MAPK (ERK e JNK), citotoxidade, integridade de citoesqueleto, viscoelasticidade celular e expressão gênica de enzimas envolvidas no estresse oxidativo e apoptose. Os resultados mostraram que, em explantes de traqueia, o DEP causa aumento significativo em relação ao grupo controle na quantidade de muco ácido (p= 0,001), diminuição no muco neutro (p=0,001), diminuição de muco misto (p= 0,001), aumento de vacuolização (p= 0,001), aumento de apoptose (p=0,001), ora com aumento de pERK e diminuição de pJNK, e vice-versa. Os explantes submetidos à exposição ao DEP e DEP/MET aumentaram significativamente o muco ácido (p=0,01) e DEP/HEX provocou aumento da extrusão do muco (p=0,007), provavelmente devido à ação do enriquecimento inorgânico. Para as células BEAS-2B, nos resultados obtidos com células epiteliais expostas ao DEP e DEP/HEX, foram observadas alterações na membrana citoplasmática, mitocôndrias e citoesqueleto. As células expostas apenas ao DEP em baixas concentrações (15ug/mL) apresentaram alterações na expressão de genes envolvidos no apoptose (BCL-2 e Caspase-3 (p=0,05 e p=0,01) e estresse oxidativo [(SOD1 e SOD2 e GPx. p=0,01 )], e CYP1A1 ((p=0,01) / Diesel exhaust particles (DEPs) from diesel engines have toxic properties that result from their physical and chemical characteristics. DEPs are able to activate intracellular signaling pathways and induce metabolic changes to cells and tissues of the human respiratory system. This dissertation sought to evaluate: 1) the profile of mucins and the epithelial changes to the tracheal explants of BALB/c mice exposed to both DEP and DEP treated with nitric acid and organic solvents (50 and 100 ug/mL; and 2) human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) in culture after their exposure to both DEP and DEP treated with hexane (DEP/HEX) at 100 ug/mL in order to determine MAPK (ERK/JNK) activation, cytotoxicity, cytoskeletal integrity, cell viscoelasticity and gene expression of the enzymes involved in oxidative stress and apoptosis. The results show that, in tracheal explants, DEP causes a significant increase (compared to the control) in the quantity of acidic mucus (p=0.001), a decrease in alkaline mucus (p=0.001), a decrease in mixed mucus (p=0.001), an increase in vacuolization (p=0.001), an increase in apoptosis (p=0.001), along with an increase in pERK and a decrease in pJNK, and vice versa. The explants that were exposed to DEP and DEP/MET were found to have significantly higher quantities of acidic mucus (p=0.01), and DEP/HEX caused an increase in mucus extrusion (p=0.007), which was likely due to inorganic enrichment. In the case of BEAS-2B cells, the results obtained from epithelial cells exposted to DEP and DEP/HEX revealed alterations in the cytoplasmic membrane, the mitochondria, and the cytoskeleton. The cells exposed to DEP alone at low concentrations (15 ug/mL) experienced alterations in the genes involved in apoptosis (BCL-2 and Caspase-3; p=0.05 and p=0.01, respectively), as well as oxidative stress [(SOD1, SOD2, and GPx; p=0.01 )], and changes to CYP1A1 (p=0.01)

Introdução: O carcinoma de células renais (CCR) representa uma causa crescente de mortalidade por câncer. Apesar da sua curabilidade em estádios iniciais, agentes citotóxicos e imunomodulatórios têm homogeneamente alcançado nenhum ou pouco benefício no tratamento do CCR avançado. Um melhor entendimento da biologia tumoral pode levar ao desenvolvimento de terapias mais eficientes e dirigidas aos mecanismos moleculares de manutenção do tumor. Sinalização aumentada através do receptor do fator de crescimento epitelial (EGFR), sistema de quinases proteicas ativadas por mitógenos (MAPK) e via da fosfatidilinositol 3-quinase (PI3K) assim como estimulação do complexo de início de tradução (CIT) foram caracterizados em linhagens celulares e amostras tumorais de CCR. Nós investigamos o efeito de um inibidor de EGFR (gefitinibe), de um inibidor de MAPK (UO126) e de um inibidor do CIT (rapamicina) nos intermediários de sinalização celular e nos elementos do CIT assim como no crescimento in vitro de linhagens celulares de CCR. Métodos: Linhagens celulares de CCR (PRC3, WT8, SKRC-02, SKRC-17, SKRC-39, SKRC-45, ACHN e KRCY) foram mantidas em condições ideais para a cultura de células de mamíferos e expostas a drogas e/ou inibidores nas concentrações e por períodos de tempo variáveis. A fosforilação de intermediários da sinalização celular foi determinada utilizando-se western blots. Nível de mRNA para genes de interesse foram determinados por qRT-PCR. Crescimento celular foi avaliado por método colorimétrico em diferentes concentrações de gefitinibe, UO126 e rapamicina, isoladamente ou em combinação. Resultados: UO126 levou a defosforilação não apenas de intermediários de MAPK como também de substratos do alvo da rapamicina em mamíferos (mTOR) revelando sinalização cruzada entre essas vias. Nós identificamos ainda que ERK5 é a quinase potencialmente responsável por esta sinalização cruzada. No entanto, tratamento com UO126 não afetou o nível de mRNA para o substrato de mTOR 4EBP1. Gefitinibe foi capaz de bloquear a sinalização iniciada por EGF na via de PI3K em todas as linhagens wt-PTEN e de bloquear a sinalização através de ERK1/2 e ERK5 ao menos parcialmente em todas as linhagens celulares. Rapamicina mostrou-se um potente inibidor do crescimento na maioria das linhagens celulares de CCR e tal efeito foi freqüentemente amplificado com a combinação com UO126 ou gefitinibe.Conclusão: EGFR, MAPK e CIT são alvos promissores no tratamento do CCR / Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is an increasing cause of cancer mortality. Despite its curability in early stages, conventional cytotoxic and immunomodulatory agents have been homogeneous in providing minimal or no benefit in the treatment of advanced RCC. Better understanding of tumor cell biology may lead to development of more efficient targeted therapies. Signaling intensification through epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR), mitogenactivated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway and overactivation of the translation initiation complex (TIC) has been previously characterized in RCC cell lines and tumor samples. We investigated the effect of an EGFR inhibitor (gefitinib) as well as a MAPK inhibitor (UO126) and a TIC inhibitor (rapamycin) in the intermediates of cell signaling, in the elements of TIC and in the in vitro growth of RCC cell lines. Methods: RCC cell lines (PRC3, WT8, SKRC-02, SKRC-17, SKRC-39, SKRC-45, ACHN and KRCY) were maintained on standard mammalian cells culture conditions and exposed to drugs and/or inhibitors in variable concentrations and for variable periods of time as required in each experiment. Phosphorylation status of signaling intermediates were determined using western blots. Levels of mRNA for genes of interest were determined by qRT-PCR. Cell growth was assessed by colorimetric method in control conditions or in different concentrations of gefitinib, UO126 or rapamycin, alone or in combination. Results: UO126 caused dephosphorylation not only of MAPK intermediates but also of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) substrates revealing crosstalk between these pathways. We also identified ERK5 as a kinase potentially responsible for such cross talk. However, treatment with UO126 did not affect mRNA levels of the downstream target of mTOR 4EBP1. Gefitinib was able to block EGF signaling through PI3K in all wt- PTEN cell lines and the signaling through ERK1/2 and ERK5 at least partially in all cell lines. Rapamycin was found to be a potent growth inhibitor in most RCC cell lines and such effect was often increased by its combination with UO126 or gefitinib. Conclusion: EGFR, MAPK and CIT are promising targets for the treatment of RCC