Le coactivateur de facteurs de transcription PGC-1a (PPARC1A) est connu pour jouer un rôle clé dans la thermogénèse adaptative ainsi que dans l’homéostasie et la croissance musculaire chez l’homme et la souris. Le gène codant pour PGC-1 est contrôlé par deux promoteurs et est soumis à un épissage alternatif, il en résulte de multiples protéines. Chez le bovin, malgré son implication dans la croissance et dans les caractéristiques du lait relevée par des études de SNP, le gène et les transcrits de PGC-1a restent peu étudiés. Ainsi, notre objectif a été de mettre en évidence la structure et l’expression des transcrits de PGC-1a chez le bovin. Nous avons montré que deux formes longues PGC-1a-a et PGC-1a-b étaient exprimées chez le bovin de même que deux formes tronquées NT-PGC-1a-a et NT-PGC-1a-b (aussi appelé PGC-14). En conditions basales, les formes tronquées sont plus exprimées que les formes longues dans le muscle squelettique. De plus, les transcrits dérivants du promoteur proximal sont prédominants, ce qui suggère que NT-PGC-1a serait la forme prédominante dans le muscle squelettique bovin. Nous avons également créé des lignées cellulaires sur-exprimant indépendamment les formes longues ou tronquées et montré que la sur-expression des isoformes bovins entrainait une différenciation accrue des myoblastes associée à une augmentation de l’expression d’IGF-1 et une sousexpression de la myostatine. La multitude d’isoformes codée par le gène PGC-1a ainsi que leur implication dans la myogenèse positionne PGC-1a en gène d’intérêt dans l’étude de la variabilité phénotypique retrouvé chez certaines races bovines. De plus, les transcrits de PGC-1a semblent être de puissants modulateurs de la masse musculaire. PGC-1a pourrait donc être un gène de plus à étudier lors de la sélection des animaux domestiques présentant une plus grande musculature. / The transcriptional co-activator PGC-1α (PPARGC1A) has been reported to play a key role in adaptive thermogenesis and to influence muscle homeostasis and growth in mouse and human. PGC-1α has a complex structure with multiple protein domains whose gene is controlled by two promoters and is subject to alternative splicing events. In cattle, very little is currently known about PGC-1α, despite its implication in growth and milk characteristics revealrd by SNP study. So, the aim of our study was to investigate the presence and the structure of bovine PGC-1α alternative transcripts. We found different transcripts, two full-length isoforms named PGC-1α-a and PGC-1α-b, and two truncated forms, NT-PGC-1α and PGC-1α4. In basal conditions, our results showed that the truncated forms are the most expressed in bovine muscle. In addition, the transcripts derived from the proximal promoter are predominant, suggesting that NT-PGC-1 would be the main form. Finally, we showed that the overexpression of either fulllength or truncated isoforms of bovine PGC-1 enhances myoblasts differentiation. The multiplicity of isoforms resulting from PGC-1α as well as their implication in myogenesismakes PGC-1α as a gene of interest for the study of the muscular phenotypic variability found in different cattle breeds. In addition, PGC-1 transctipts appear to be a strong modulators of muscle mass. So the bovine PGC-1a isoforms could be used to engineer future breeds with higher muscularity.

Espécies reativas de oxigênio (EROs) são normalmente e continuamente geradas em mitocôndrias, majoritariamente na cadeia de transporte de elétrons (CTE). Harman (1956, 1972 e 1992) teorizou que os radicais livres gerados nas mitocôndrias seriam a principal causa do envelhecimento. De fato, durante o envelhecimento é observado um desequilíbrio entre formação e remoção de EROs, que resulta em estresse redox. Essa condição favorece a formação de lesões oxidadas no DNA, acarretando em mutagênese ou morte celular. Diversos mecanismos moleculares cooperam para o reparo de DNA. Duas vias de reparo de DNA lidam com a maioria das lesões: o reparo por excisão de base (BER) e o reparo por excisão de nucleotídeos (NER). A via BER corrige pequenas modificações de bases que surgem de reações de desaminação, alquilação e oxidação. A via NER é mais versátil, reconhecendo lesões que distorcem a dupla hélice de DNA, como danos induzidos por luz UV e adutos volumos. Pacientes xeroderma pigmentoso (XP-A a XP-G) herdam mutações em um de sete genes que codificam proteínas envolvidas na via NER, ou em um gene que codifica uma polimerase translesão (XP-V). A doença é caracterizada por fotosensibilidade e incidência elevada de neoplasias cutâneas. A proteína XPC atua na etapa de reconhecimento da lesão de DNA na subvia de reparo global do genoma (GG-NER), e sua mutação dá origem aos sintomas clássicos de XP. Novas funções de XPC foram recentemente descritas: i) atuando como cofator na via BER auxiliando as DNA glicosilases OGG1, TDG e SMUG; ii) atuando como cofator transcricional de elementos responsivos a Oct4/Sox2, RXR e PPARα; e iii) na adaptação metabólica na transformação de queratinócitos. Então, propusemo-nos a investigar as relações entre XPC e a manutenção da integridade do DNA mitocondrial, a sensibilidade celular a estresse redox mitocondrial e possíveis alterações bioenergéticas e redox. Para tal, padronizamos um ensaio in vitro de cinética de incisão em DNA plasmidial a fim de investigarmos o possível papel de XPC no reparo de lesões oxidadas em mtDNA. Porém, nossos dados revelaram que XPC não se encontra em mitocôndrias. Apesar disso, células XP-C são mais sensíveis ao tratamento com azul de metileno (AM), antimicina A (AA) e rotenona (ROT), que geram estresse redox mitocondrial. A sensibilidade à AA foi completamente revertida em células corrigidas. Células XP-C apresentaram alterações quanto ao uso dos complexos mitocondriais, com diminuição da taxa de consumo de oxigênio (OCR) via complexo I e um aumento da OCR via complexo II, dependente da presença de XPC. Ademais, a linhagem XP-C apresentou um desequilíbrio redox mitocondrial com maior produção de EROs e menor atividade de GPx. O DNA mitocondrial de células XP-C apresentou níveis elevados de lesão e deleção, que no entanto não retornaram aos níveis encontrados em células selvagens na linhagem XP-C corrigida. Observamos uma acentuada diminuição da expressão de PPARGC1A, um importante regulador de biogênese mitocondrial. Contudo, não foi possível determinar o mecanismo de supressão da expressão de PPARGC1A. Por fim, identificamos que o tipo de mutação em XPC pode estar associado a expressão de PPARGC1A. Esse estudo abre novas possibilidade na investigação do papel de proteína XPC, à parte da instabilidade genômica, na adaptação metabólica e desequilíbrio redox em direção da progressão tumoral. / Mitochondria continuously produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), mainly at the electron transport chain. Harman (1956, 1972 e 1992) proposed that normal aging is driven by increased mitochondrially generated free radicals. Indeed, during the course of aging there is an increased imbalance between formation and removal of ROS, leading to redox stress. This condition favours the formation of oxidized DNA lesions, given rise to mutations and cell death. Several molecular mechanisms cooperates to repair the DNA. Two DNA repair pathways deal with the majority of lesions: base excision repair (BER) and nucleotide excision repair (NER). The BER pathway corrects small base modifications that arise from deamination, alkylation and oxidation reactions. The NER pathway is more versitile, recognizing helix-distorting lesions, such as UV-induced damage and bulky adducts. Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP-A to XP-G) patients inherit mutations in one of seven protein-coding genes involved in NER pathway, or in a gene coding a translesion DNA polymerase (XP-V). Photosensitivity and a thousand-fold increased in the risk of developing cutaneous neoplasms are the main clinical features of XP. XPC protein functions in the recognition step of global genome NER (GG-NER) sub-pathway, and mutations in this gene lead to classical XP symptoms. Recently, it has been described that XPC acts: i) as a cofactor in BER pathway through functional interaction with DNA glycosylases OGG1, TDG and SMUG1; ii) as coactivator in transcription at Oct4/Sox2, RXR and PPARα responsive elements; iii) in metabolic shift during keratinocytes transformation. Thus, we sought to investigate a possible role for XPC in the maintenance of mtDNA integrity, cellular sensitivity to mitochondrial redox stress and eventual bioenergetic and redox changes. For this purpose, we established an in vitro plasmid incision assay to investigate the possible role of XPC in the repair of oxidized lesions in mitochondrial DNA. However, our data revealed that XPC did not localized in mitochondria. Nonetheless, XP-C cells are more sensitive to methylene blue, antimycin A (AA) and rotenone treatment, which induce mitochondrial redox stress. The XP-C sensitivity to AA was completely reverted in XPC-corrected cells. XP-C cells presented altered usage of mitochondrial complexes, with decreased oxygen consumption rate (OCR) via complex I and increased OCR through complex II, an XPC-dependent phenomenon. Furthermore, the XP-C cell line showed mitochondrial redox imbalance with increased ROS production and decrease GPx activity. MtDNA from XP-C cells accumulate lesions and deletions, which, however, were found at similar levels in the corrected cell line. We identified a sharp decrease in the expression of PPARGC1A, a master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis. Nevertheless, it was not possible to determine the mechanism of suppression of PPARGC1A expression. Finally, our results suggest a possible link between the type of XPC mutation and PPARGC1A expression. This study unfolds new possible roles for XPC, aside from its established roles in genomic instability, in metabolic adaptation and redox imbalance towards tumour progression.

Espécies reativas de oxigênio (EROs) são normalmente e continuamente geradas em mitocôndrias, majoritariamente na cadeia de transporte de elétrons (CTE). Harman (1956, 1972 e 1992) teorizou que os radicais livres gerados nas mitocôndrias seriam a principal causa do envelhecimento. De fato, durante o envelhecimento é observado um desequilíbrio entre formação e remoção de EROs, que resulta em estresse redox. Essa condição favorece a formação de lesões oxidadas no DNA, acarretando em mutagênese ou morte celular. Diversos mecanismos moleculares cooperam para o reparo de DNA. Duas vias de reparo de DNA lidam com a maioria das lesões: o reparo por excisão de base (BER) e o reparo por excisão de nucleotídeos (NER). A via BER corrige pequenas modificações de bases que surgem de reações de desaminação, alquilação e oxidação. A via NER é mais versátil, reconhecendo lesões que distorcem a dupla hélice de DNA, como danos induzidos por luz UV e adutos volumos. Pacientes xeroderma pigmentoso (XP-A a XP-G) herdam mutações em um de sete genes que codificam proteínas envolvidas na via NER, ou em um gene que codifica uma polimerase translesão (XP-V). A doença é caracterizada por fotosensibilidade e incidência elevada de neoplasias cutâneas. A proteína XPC atua na etapa de reconhecimento da lesão de DNA na subvia de reparo global do genoma (GG-NER), e sua mutação dá origem aos sintomas clássicos de XP. Novas funções de XPC foram recentemente descritas: i) atuando como cofator na via BER auxiliando as DNA glicosilases OGG1, TDG e SMUG; ii) atuando como cofator transcricional de elementos responsivos a Oct4/Sox2, RXR e PPARα; e iii) na adaptação metabólica na transformação de queratinócitos. Então, propusemo-nos a investigar as relações entre XPC e a manutenção da integridade do DNA mitocondrial, a sensibilidade celular a estresse redox mitocondrial e possíveis alterações bioenergéticas e redox. Para tal, padronizamos um ensaio in vitro de cinética de incisão em DNA plasmidial a fim de investigarmos o possível papel de XPC no reparo de lesões oxidadas em mtDNA. Porém, nossos dados revelaram que XPC não se encontra em mitocôndrias. Apesar disso, células XP-C são mais sensíveis ao tratamento com azul de metileno (AM), antimicina A (AA) e rotenona (ROT), que geram estresse redox mitocondrial. A sensibilidade à AA foi completamente revertida em células corrigidas. Células XP-C apresentaram alterações quanto ao uso dos complexos mitocondriais, com diminuição da taxa de consumo de oxigênio (OCR) via complexo I e um aumento da OCR via complexo II, dependente da presença de XPC. Ademais, a linhagem XP-C apresentou um desequilíbrio redox mitocondrial com maior produção de EROs e menor atividade de GPx. O DNA mitocondrial de células XP-C apresentou níveis elevados de lesão e deleção, que no entanto não retornaram aos níveis encontrados em células selvagens na linhagem XP-C corrigida. Observamos uma acentuada diminuição da expressão de PPARGC1A, um importante regulador de biogênese mitocondrial. Contudo, não foi possível determinar o mecanismo de supressão da expressão de PPARGC1A. Por fim, identificamos que o tipo de mutação em XPC pode estar associado a expressão de PPARGC1A. Esse estudo abre novas possibilidade na investigação do papel de proteína XPC, à parte da instabilidade genômica, na adaptação metabólica e desequilíbrio redox em direção da progressão tumoral. / Mitochondria continuously produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), mainly at the electron transport chain. Harman (1956, 1972 e 1992) proposed that normal aging is driven by increased mitochondrially generated free radicals. Indeed, during the course of aging there is an increased imbalance between formation and removal of ROS, leading to redox stress. This condition favours the formation of oxidized DNA lesions, given rise to mutations and cell death. Several molecular mechanisms cooperates to repair the DNA. Two DNA repair pathways deal with the majority of lesions: base excision repair (BER) and nucleotide excision repair (NER). The BER pathway corrects small base modifications that arise from deamination, alkylation and oxidation reactions. The NER pathway is more versitile, recognizing helix-distorting lesions, such as UV-induced damage and bulky adducts. Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP-A to XP-G) patients inherit mutations in one of seven protein-coding genes involved in NER pathway, or in a gene coding a translesion DNA polymerase (XP-V). Photosensitivity and a thousand-fold increased in the risk of developing cutaneous neoplasms are the main clinical features of XP. XPC protein functions in the recognition step of global genome NER (GG-NER) sub-pathway, and mutations in this gene lead to classical XP symptoms. Recently, it has been described that XPC acts: i) as a cofactor in BER pathway through functional interaction with DNA glycosylases OGG1, TDG and SMUG1; ii) as coactivator in transcription at Oct4/Sox2, RXR and PPARα responsive elements; iii) in metabolic shift during keratinocytes transformation. Thus, we sought to investigate a possible role for XPC in the maintenance of mtDNA integrity, cellular sensitivity to mitochondrial redox stress and eventual bioenergetic and redox changes. For this purpose, we established an in vitro plasmid incision assay to investigate the possible role of XPC in the repair of oxidized lesions in mitochondrial DNA. However, our data revealed that XPC did not localized in mitochondria. Nonetheless, XP-C cells are more sensitive to methylene blue, antimycin A (AA) and rotenone treatment, which induce mitochondrial redox stress. The XP-C sensitivity to AA was completely reverted in XPC-corrected cells. XP-C cells presented altered usage of mitochondrial complexes, with decreased oxygen consumption rate (OCR) via complex I and increased OCR through complex II, an XPC-dependent phenomenon. Furthermore, the XP-C cell line showed mitochondrial redox imbalance with increased ROS production and decrease GPx activity. MtDNA from XP-C cells accumulate lesions and deletions, which, however, were found at similar levels in the corrected cell line. We identified a sharp decrease in the expression of PPARGC1A, a master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis. Nevertheless, it was not possible to determine the mechanism of suppression of PPARGC1A expression. Finally, our results suggest a possible link between the type of XPC mutation and PPARGC1A expression. This study unfolds new possible roles for XPC, aside from its established roles in genomic instability, in metabolic adaptation and redox imbalance towards tumour progression.

Genetic heterogeneity, lifestyle factors, gene-gene or gene-environment interactions are the determinants of T2D which puts Hispanics and populations with African ancestry at higher risk of developing T2D. In this dissertation, the genetic associations of PPARGC1A polymorphisms with T2D and its related phenotypes (metabolic markers) in Haitian Americans (cases=110, controls=116), African Americans (cases=120, controls=124) and Cuban Americans (cases=160, controls=181) of South Florida were explored. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms of gene PPARGC1A were evaluated in each ethnicity for their disease association. In Haitian Americans, rs7656250 (OR= 0.22, pp=0.03) had significant protective association with T2D but had risk association in African Americans for rs7656250 (OR=1.02, p=0.96) and rs4235308 (OR=2.53, p=0.03). We found that in Haitian American females, both rs7656250 (OR=0.23, pp=0.03) had protective association with T2D. In African American females, rs7656250 (OR=1.14, p=0.78) had risk association whereas in males, it had significant protective effect (OR=0.37, p=0.04). However, the risk association exhibited by rs4235308 was stronger in African American females (OR=2.69, p=0.03) than males (OR=1.16, p=0.72). In Cuban Americans, only rs7656250 showed significant risk association with T2D (OR=6.87, p=0.02) which was stronger in females alone (OR=7.67, p=0.01). We also observed significant differences among correlations of PPARGC1A SNPs and T2D phenotypes. Positive correlation was observed for log Hs-CRP with rs3774907 (pp=0.03) in Cuban Americans respectively. Correlation of log A1C with rs7656250 (p=0.02) was positive in Cuban Americans while it was negative for rs3774907 in Haitian Americans (ppPPARGC1A correlations with T2D and its phenotypes among the three ethnicities studied (ii) the associations of PPARGC1A SNPs showed significant effect modification by sex. The findings suggest that variations in effects of PPARGC1A gene polymorphisms among three ethnicities and between sexes may have biomedical implications for the development of T2D as well as the phenotypes related to T2D.

Cancer is increasingly prevalent globally and influenced by factors such as obesity and smoking. Cancer itself and chemotherapies, like cisplatin, can affect our reproductive organs and increase the risk of involuntary childlessness. In the ovaries there are oocytes that are surrounded by cumulus cells (CC) and the CC provides the oocyte with nutrients like pyruvate, which is important for the oocytes ability to mature. If the oocyte does not receive sufficient amount of nutrients the ovulation may be compromised. The CC are not well studied, and few prior studies have been done specifically to observe the impact of chemotherapies on CC. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PPARGC1A) is important for the mitochondrial biogenesis in cells. The purpose of the project was to evaluate a method for RNA extraction in CC and observe the impact of cisplatin exposure on the PPARGC1A expression. CCs were aspirated from bovine ovaries and exposed to cisplatin during in vitro maturation. RNA was eluted using the QIAcube and then quality assured. The primer β2 microglobulin (B2M) was used as an endogenous control in the qPCR. The results showed that PPARGC1A was minimally expressed in bovine CC and was inadequate for use when evaluating if cisplatin changes the RNA expression in CC. However, the QIAcube proved to be a suitable method for RNA extraction from bovine CC and B2M showed to be suitable as an endogenous control in bovine CC.

Background: The knowledge of factors influencing disease progression in patients with established coronary heart disease (CHD) is still relatively limited. One potential pathway is related to peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor gamma coactivator-1 alpha (PPARGC1A), a transcription factor linked to energy metabolism which may play a role in the heart function. Thus, its associations with subsequent CHD events remain unclear. We aimed to investigate the effect of three different SNPs in the PPARGC1A gene on the risk of subsequent CHD in a population with established CHD. Methods: We employed an individual-level meta-analysis using 23 studies from the GENetIcs of sUbSequent Coronary Heart Disease (GENIUS-CHD) consortium, which included participants (n = 80,900) with either acute coronary syndrome, stable CHD, or a mixture of both at baseline. Three variants in the PPARGC1A gene (rs8192678, G482S; rs7672915, intron 2; and rs3755863, T528T) were tested for their associations with subsequent events during the follow-up using a Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for age and sex. The primary outcome was subsequent CHD death or myocardial infarction (CHD death/myocardial infarction). Stratified analyses of the participant or study characteristics as well as additional analyses for secondary outcomes of specific cardiovascular disease diagnoses and all-cause death were also performed. Results: Meta-analysis revealed no significant association between any of the three variants in the PPARGC1A gene and the primary outcome of CHD death/myocardial infarction among those with established CHD at baseline: rs8192678, hazard ratio (HR): 1.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.98–1.05 and rs7672915, HR: 0.97, 95% CI 0.94–1.00; rs3755863, HR: 1.02, 95% CI 0.99–1.06. Similarly, no significant associations were observed for any of the secondary outcomes. The results from stratified analyses showed null results, except for significant inverse associations between rs7672915 (intron 2) and the primary outcome among 1) individuals aged ≥65, 2) individuals with renal impairment, and 3) antiplatelet users. Conclusion: We found no clear associations between polymorphisms in the PPARGC1A gene and subsequent CHD events in patients with established CHD at baseline.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α) is known as the master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis. PGC-1α holds this role by acting as a transcriptional coactivator for an array of transcription factors and nuclear hormone receptors, such as NRF-1/2 and ERRα/γ, whose downstream targets function in mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative phosphorylation. PGC-1α is regulated both at the transcriptional and post-translational level in several signaling pathways, including p38 MAPK and AMPK. This regulation affects which transcription factor binding events can occur in a given tissue, and thus affects regulation of PGC-1α target genes. PGC-1α is downregulated in many neurodegenerative disorders as well as in muscular dystrophies, diabetes, and aging. Therefore, PGC-1α is prized as a potential therapeutic target to create novel treatments for these various diseases.However, details governing the spatio-temporal regulation of PGC-1α are not completely understood, and overexpression of PGC-1α throughout the body or even in certain tissues or subsets of cells have had detrimental effects in animal and cell models. Therefore, it is necessary to gain knowledge of how to modulate PGC-1α in a tissue-specific manner utilizing these different levels of regulation in order to develop novel therapies. In order to further understand all the functions that have been attributed to PGC-1α, the PGC-1α isoforms need to be accounted for and understood in human tissues. Several murine isoforms have been published, as well as several human brain and muscle isoforms. However, most of these isoforms have only been validated as mature transcripts, and it is not known whether they produce functional protein. Our lab has identified the isoform b transcript in human brain tissue via 5’ RACE and have developed an isoform b specific antibody. This project aimed to characterize the isoform b transcripts and also to validate and optimize this antibody for immunoblotting conditions for detection of further PGC-1α-b isoform protein variants in human tissues. Preliminary studies in our lab have shown that in postmortem frontal cortex from age-matched PD and healthy patients, isoform a transcript levels were 10-15 times more abundant than that of isoform b. These differences in regulation could be partially attributed to the isoform b promoter region being heavily methylated, as shown in this thesis through bisulphite cloning and sequencing as well as 454 bisulphite sequence analysis. The high degree of methylation, correlated with the low level of isoform b transcript in brain and it is not known whether this transcript would be translated into protein in this tissue. In order to probe for isoform b protein expression using human cell lines and tissues, however, it was necessary to create a recombinant protein in order to have a positive control with which to optimize our novel antibody. In our previous 5’ RACE studies, an alternatively spliced PGC-1α-b transcript was found which coded for an early stop codon. This truncated isoform was called PGC-1α-b-3T1, and mature transcript was found in both human skeletal muscle and brain. For this project, PGC-1a-b-3T1 was cloned from human skeletal muscle into a bacterial expression vector to create a recombinant GST fusion protein. This protein was used to validate and optimize our PGC-1α-b specific antibody as well as to determine sensitivity and specificity. The purified recombinant protein contained 3 bands of lower molecular weight that were detected via western blot with both GST and the PGC-1α-b specific antibody. These bands were trypsin cleaved and subjected to mass spectrometry analysis, which verified that all bands detected by the PGC-1a-b specific antibody contained the epitope sequence, and thus binding was specific. This protein was then used to determine western blotting conditions and sensitivity, which is 10 ng using a 1:100 dilution of the antibody. This antibody was then used to probe SH-SY5Y WCL, a human neuroblastoma cell line. Peptide competition assay confirmed 5 PGC-1α-b specific proteins in these lysates. The sizes of these proteins matched to several murine PGC-1α-b isoforms as well as putative PGC-1α-b versions of PGC-1a-a isoforms. These findings provided the putative identities of several endogenous functional human PGC-1α-b isoforms. Mammalian overexpression vectors of these isoforms are still in development. By using this antibody and these expression vectors to further characterize these isoforms, including determining tissue specificity, more knowledge of PGC-1α will be gained. This information could then be used to develop novel, tissue specific treatments for pharmacological intervention of diseases characterized by PGC-1α misregulation.

No description available.

La stéatose hépatique non alcoolique (SHNA) est maintenant une des principales causes de cancer du foie. Cependant, les mécanismes physiopathologiques contribuant à son développement ou à la progression de la maladie sont peu connus. Il a été démontré que le niveau d’expression du coactivateur transcriptionnel PGC-1α est inversement proportionnel avec la sévérité de la stéatose hépatique le stress oxydatif et la résistance à l’insuline dans les foies de souris. Chez l’humain, on observe aussi une diminution de PGC-1α dans les foies de patients atteints de SHNA. De plus, il a été démontré que les souris avec une réduction de 50% des niveaux hépatique de PGC-1α mène à une sensibilité à l’insuline et à une tolérance au glucose altérée dans les tissus périphériques. Ces découvertes suggèrent qu’en plus d’être associés au développement de la SHNA, les niveaux hépatiques de PGC-1α altèrent l’expression de facteurs sécrétoires du foie afin d’influencer la régulation métabolique de tout le corps. Nous proposons qu’une réduction de l’expression de PGC-1α dans le foie influence les protéines sécrétées par le foie en situation de stress métabolique, révélant l’importance de PGC-1α dans la réponse adaptative du foie. L’analyse du sécrétome hépatique effectuée par spectrométrie de masse sur le milieu conditionné d’hépatocytes primaires a identifié SERPINA3N, une protéine sécrétée, dont les niveaux corrèlent avec les niveaux hépatiques de PGC-1α et sont influencés par la diète obésogène. Dans ce projet, les niveaux sanguins de cette protéine ont été quantifiés par western blot chez des souris mâles et femelles, sauvages ou hétérozygotes pour PGC-1α dans le foie et nourris avec une diète control ou riche en gras et en fructose. Nos résultats démontrent que les niveaux circulatoires de SERPINA3N augmentent avec la diète et corrèlent avec les niveaux hépatiques de PGC-1α de manière dépendante à la diète et le sexe. De plus, les niveaux sanguins de SERPINA3N diminuent avec la progression de la maladie. L’expression hépatique de SERPINA3N est grandement influencée par les niveaux de PGC-1α, mais indépendamment du facteur transcriptionnel NF-κB. Nous avons montré que les glucocorticoïdes augmentent les niveaux protéiques et circulatoires de SERPINA3N dans les hépatocytes primaires. De plus, cette augmentation par les glucocorticoïdes est influencée par les niveaux de PGC-1α. Ces résultats révèlent une nouvelle interaction entre PGC-1α et le récepteur des glucocorticoïdes sur l’expression hépatique et la sécrétion de SERPINA3N. Pour conclure, l’identification de protéines circulatoires régulées par PGC-1α nous aidera à mieux comprendre comment la perte d’expression de PGC-1α dans le foie affecte le métabolisme de tout le corps dans le contexte de la SHNA. / Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming a serious public health problem and is now one of the leading causes of liver cancer. Although NAFLD is known to be associated with obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes, the mechanisms contributing to its development are not fully understood. It is shown that hepatic PGC-1α levels correlate negatively with NAFLD development, oxidative liver damage and hepatic insulin resistance in murine models. In humans, decrease PGC-1α expression in NAFLD and NASH patients. Moreover, liver-specific PGC-1α reduction in mice also disrupts glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in muscle and adipose tissue, likely due to altered secretion of hepatic hormones. These findings suggest that in addition to contributing to NAFLD development, the hepatic disruption of PGC-1α alters the liver secretome, thereby influencing the whole-body energy metabolism. We hypothesize that decreased expression of PGC-1α in the liver alters the expression of hepatokines under metabolic challenges, revealing a potential novel role for PGC-1α in the adaptive response of the liver. The hepatocyte-specific secretome was analyzed by mass spectrometry (iTRAQ) in conditioned media from primary hepatocytes. We identified SERPINA3N, a secreted protein whose secreted levels correlated with hepatic PGC-1α levels in a diet-dependent manner. This hepatokine was measured in serum from male, female, wildtype and liver-specific PGC-1α heterozygote mice fed chow or high-fat, high-fructose diet using western blot. SERPINA3N circulating levels increased with the western diet and correlated with hepatic PGC-1α levels in a diet and sex-dependent manner. Its serum levels decreased with the progression of the disease. The hepatic SERPINA3N expression was greatly influenced by PGC-1α levels independently of NF-κB transcription factor. We showed that glucocorticoids increased SERPINA3N protein and secreted levels in primary hepatocytes. This increase was influenced by PGC-1α levels, revealing a novel interaction of PGC-1α and the glucocorticoid receptor on SERPINA3N expression and secretion. In conclusion, this project reveals a novel impact of hepatic PGC-1α levels on the liver secretome during NAFLD development. This work will provide insights on the role of hepatic PGC-1α levels on the regulation of hepatokines and how it influences the whole-body energy homeostasis in a context of NAFLD.

Background: Type 2 diabetes is thought to result from interactions between genetic and lifestyle factors, but few robust examples exist. The overarching aim of this thesis was to discover such interactions by studying cohorts of white youth and adults from northern Europe in which physical activity, genotypes, and diabetes-related traits or diabetes incidence had been ascertained.   Methods: The thesis includes four papers. In Paper I, we investigated associations and interactions between 35 common PPARGC1A polymorphisms and cardiovascular and metabolic disease traits in 2,101 Danish and Estonian children from the European Youth Heart Study (EYHS). Paper II used the same cohort to test associations and interactions on cardiometabolic traits for the diabetes-predisposing TCF7L2 polymorphism. In Paper III, we assessed associations for 17 type 2 diabetes gene polymorphisms on impaired glucose regulation (IGR) or incident type 2 diabetes, and tested whether these effects are modified by physical activity in a prospective cohort study of ~16,000 initially non-diabetic Swedish adults – the Malmö Preventive Project (MPP). Paper IV aimed to replicate main genetic effects and gene x physical activity interactions for an FTO polymorphism on obesity in 18,435 primarily non-diabetic Swedish (MPP) and Finnish (Prevalence, Prediction and Prevention of Diabetes in Botnia) adults. Results: In Paper I, nominally significant associations were observed for BMI (rs10018239, P=0.039), waist circumference (rs7656250, P=0.012; rs8192678 [Gly482Ser], P=0.015; rs3755863, P=0.02; rs10018239, P=0.043), systolic blood pressure (rs2970869, P=0.018) and fasting glucose concentrations (rs11724368, P=0.045). Stronger associations were observed for aerobic fitness (rs7656250, P=0.005; rs13117172, P=0.008) and fasting glucose concentrations (rs7657071, P=0.002). None remained significant after correcting for multiple statistical comparisons. We proceeded by testing for gene × physical activity interactions for the polymorphisms that showed statistical evidence of association (P<0.05) in the main effect models, but none was statistically significant. In Paper II, the minor T allele at the rs7903146 variant was associated with higher glucose levels in older (beta=–0.098 mmol/l per minor allele copy, P=0.029) but not in younger children (beta=–0.001 mmol/l per minor allele copy, P=0.972). A significant inverse association between the minor allele at rs7903146 and height was evident in boys (beta=–1.073 cm per minor allele copy, P=0.001), but not in girls. The test of interaction between the TCF7L2 rs7903146 variant and physical activity on HOMA-B was nominally statistically significant (beta=0.022, Pinteraction=0.015), whereby physical activity reduced the effect of the risk allele on estimated beta-cell function. In Paper III, tests of gene x physical activity interactions on IGR-risk for three polymorphisms were nominally statistically significant: CDKN2A/B rs10811661 (Pinteraction=0.015); HNF1B rs4430796 (Pinteraction=0.026); PPARG rs1801282 (Pinteraction=0.04). Consistent interactions were observed for the CDKN2A/B (Pinteraction=0.013) and HNF1B (Pinteraction=0.0009) variants on 2 hr glucose concentrations. Where type 2 diabetes was the outcome, only one statistically significant interaction effect was observed and this was for the HNF1B rs4430796 variant (Pinteraction=0.0004). The interaction effects for HNF1B on 2 hr glucose and incident diabetes remained significant after correction for multiple testing (Pinteraction=0.015 and 0.0068, respectively). In Paper IV, the minor A allele at rs9939609 was associated with higher BMI (P<0.0001). The tests of gene x physical activity interaction on BMI were not statistically significant in either cohort (Sweden: P=0.71, Finland: P=0.18). Conclusions: Variation at PPARGC1A is unlikely to have a major impact on cardiometabolic health in European children, but physical activity may modify the effect of the TFC7L2 variants on beta-cell function in this cohort. In Swedish adults, physical activity modifies the effects of common HNF1B and CDKN2A/B variants on risk of IGR and also modifies the effect of the HNF1B on type 2 diabetes risk. In Swedish and Finnish adults, we were unable to confirm previous reports of an interaction between FTO gene variation and physical activity on obesity predisposition.