La maturation des collagènes fibrillaires est régulée par la libération protéolytique des propeptides qui conduit à la formation spontanée de fibres, à partir des molécules de collagène mature. Les fibres de collagène ainsi formées confèrent résistance et solidité aux tissus. Les métalloprotéases Tolloïdes sont les principales enzymes responsables de la maturation C-terminale des procollagènes. Ces protéases possèdent de nombreux autres substrats et se distinguent par un mode de régulation original, l’utilisation de régulateurs « substrats-spécifiques », qui leur permet de moduler leur activité vis-à-vis de ces différents substrats. Parmi ces régulateurs, les Procollagen C-Proteinase Enhancers (PCPE-1 et 2) semblent jouer un rôle important car ils augmentent l’activité de clivage du C-propeptide des procollagènes jusqu’à 20 fois. Même si PCPE-1 a été découvert en 1985, son mode d’action n’est toujours pas compris. Le principal objectif de cette thèse était donc de mieux comprendre le mécanisme de l’activation. Nous avons commencé par identifier la région minimale de PCPE-1 capable d’activer les Tolloïdes et démontré une très forte coopérativité entre les domaines de cette région. Par ailleurs, nous avons mis en évidence, pour la première fois, un nouveau rôle physiologique pour le domaine C-terminal de PCPE-1 (NTR). Concernant les autres partenaires du complexe de maturation, nous avons observé une interaction d’affinité modérée entre PCPE-1 et la protéase Tolloïde appelée BMP-1 et montré que PCPE-1 se fixe uniquement sur la partie C-terminale du procollagène. Enfin, nous avons mis en évidence que d’autres métalloprotéases, les Méprines, pourraient également jouer un rôle dans la maturation de collagènes fibrillaires en étant régulées négativement par les PCPEs. L’ensemble de ces résultats nous a permis de proposer un nouveau schéma d’interaction pour les PCPEs et de faire de nouvelles hypothèses concernant leur mécanisme d’action / The maturation of fibrillar collagens is a tightly regulated process controlled by two proteolytic cleavages that remove the propeptide regions from procollagen precursors leading to spontaneous assembly of mature collagen molecules into fibrils. These fibrils provide tensile strength and toughness to connective tissues and consequently to the organism itself. The group of extracellular metalloproteinases mostly responsible for procollagen processing are the tolloids. As these enzymes have several functions other than procollagen processing, their activities on different substrates are controlled by a growing number of substrate-specific regulators. The most prominent of these regulators are the procollagen C-proteinase enhancers (PCPEs), of which PCPE-1 is a 55 kDa glycoprotein composed of two CUB and a C-terminal NTR domain, which is capable of enhancing the proteolytic activity of tolloids up to 20-fold. Even though PCPE-1 has been known since 1985 the molecular mechanism of enhancement is still unclear. The aim of this thesis was to understand and characterize this mechanism with the aid of biochemical and biophysical methods. We have identified the minimal unit responsible for enhancing activity. In addition, we propose a mechanism for how the subdomains responsible for enhancement cooperatively bind to procollagen substrates. Furthermore, we have for the first time been able to identify a possible physiological function of the NTR domain. Also, we have identified meprins as new players involved in procollagen processing and this has given valuable insights in the mechanism of action of PCPEs. Finally, we have been able to demonstrate that the interaction of PCPE-1 with procollagen is mostly limited to the C-propeptide region. Based on these findings we propose a new hypothetical interaction mechanism for PCPE-1

La balance entre synthèse et dégradation des collagènes joue un rôle crucial dans le développement de pathologies de cicatrisation. Les collagènes fibrillaires sont synthétisés et sécrétés sous forme de précurseurs dans l'espace extracellulaire. Ils subissent alors une maturation protéolytique par des métalloprotéases, telles que les « BMP-1/Tolloid-like » (BTPs), permettant la formation de fibres de collagène. Ce clivage protéolytique est stimulé de façon spécifique par deux glycoprotéine, les « Procollagen C-Proteinase Enhancers » (PCPE-1 et -2). Ainsi, l'objectif de mon travail de recherche a été d'étudier les rôles de PCPE-1 et -2 dans la cicatrisation cutanée. De façon intéressante, nous avons montré que les BTPs et PCPE-1 étaient exprimés au niveau du derme et que leur expression augmentait pendant la première semaine de cicatrisation. PCPE-1 est principalement exprimée par les fibroblastes alors que PCPE-2 est retrouvée dans les kératinocytes. De plus, nous avons montré que PCPE-2 était abondante dans les cellules myéloides, suggérant un rôle pendant la phase inflammatoire de cicatrisation. Nos résultats montrent que PCPE-2 ne stimule pas efficacement la maturation des procollagènes fibrillaires et inhibe même l'activité de BMP-1 sur des substrats non-collagéniques, suggérant un rôle inattendu de PCPE-2. Enfin, aucune différence majeure n'a été observée dans la peau de souris déficientes en PCPE-2 au cours de la cicatrisation, suggérant que PCPE-1 serait le principal stimulateur impliqué dans la maturation et le dépôt des fibres de collagènes. Ainsi, ce travail suggère que PCPE-1 et -2 joueraient des rôles distincts dans la peau et pendant la cicatrisation cutanée / The imbalance between collagen assembly and degradation during skin wound healing is a major factor contributing to wound healing pathologies. Fibrillar collagen precursors are synthesized by fibroblasts and processed in the extracellular space by specific metalloproteases (e.g. BMP-1/Tolloid-like Proteinases, or BTPs) to form collagen fibrils. These proteolytic maturations can be efficiently stimulated by two glycoproteins, Procollagen C-Proteinase Enhancers (PCPE-1 and -2). The main goal of our study was to analyze the possible redundant and specific roles of the two PCPE proteins during wound healing.Interestingly, both BTPs and PCPE-1 were found to be expressed in the dermis and to be significantly increased during the first week after injury. Surprisingly, PCPE-1 is mainly expressed by dermal fibroblasts, whereas PCPE-2 is lowly expressed in fibroblasts and more abundant in basal keratinocytes. Moreover, PCPE-2 appears to be expressed by myeloid cells suggesting that PCPE-2 might rather play a role during the inflammatory phase of wound healing. In addition, our results indicate that recombinant PCPE 2 does not efficiently enhance their proteolytic maturation of fibrillar procollagens and can even inhibit the action of BMP-1 on other non-collagenous substrates, suggesting a differential and unexpected role of PCPE-2. Finally, the in vivo role of PCPE-2 was investigated using a Pcolce2 knockout model; skin morphology and wound healing were not affected by PCPE-2 loss, indicating that PCPE-1 is the main enhancer involved in collagen deposition during wound healing. Thus, this work suggests that PCPE-1 and -2 play distinct roles in the skin and during wound healing

Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-22T20:50:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-05-25. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-08-11T03:26:12Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 Publico-12837a.pdf: 1258726 bytes, checksum: a7e0f280ec3b88f2f775c2b325704cd7 (MD5). Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-08-11T03:26:12Z : No. of bitstreams: 2 Publico-12837a.pdf: 1258726 bytes, checksum: a7e0f280ec3b88f2f775c2b325704cd7 (MD5) Publico-12837b.pdf: 2043061 bytes, checksum: 4edc37b57c73112ae7353868a78233ca (MD5). Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-08-11T03:26:12Z : No. of bitstreams: 3 Publico-12837a.pdf: 1258726 bytes, checksum: a7e0f280ec3b88f2f775c2b325704cd7 (MD5) Publico-12837b.pdf: 2043061 bytes, checksum: 4edc37b57c73112ae7353868a78233ca (MD5) Publico-12837c.pdf: 1773766 bytes, checksum: 56addbd5601cb4e7336afb640ed56fe8 (MD5) / Objetivo: O prolapso de órgãos pélvicos (POP) resulta da falha na sustentação do assoalho pélvico, e anormalidades do tecido conjuntivo podem estar envolvidas na etiologia e/ou na progressão da disfunção. Analisar-se-á a expressão diferencial de genes e de proteínas que participam da biossíntese do colágeno e da elastina: lisil oxidases (LOXs), fibulina-5, fibrilinas-1 e -2 e pró-colágeno C proteinase (PCP/BMP1), no tecido vaginal de mulheres sem e com POP acentuado consoante seu estado hormonal. Casuística e Métodos: Durante a histerectomia total, biópsias de parede vaginal anterior foram obtidas de mulheres caucasianas na pré-menopausa (fase proliferativa do ciclo menstrual) e na pós-menopausa com POP acentuado (POPQ estadio III e IV), e de controles assintomáticas (POPQ 0). RNAm e proteínas totais foram extraídos usando Trizol e RIPA Buffer, e os genes e proteínas de interesse quantificados por RT-PCR em tempo real e Imunobloting, respectivamente. As seguintes análises comparativas foram realizadas: (1) expressão dos genes e das proteínas da família LOX (LOX e LOXL1-4), fibulina-5 e fibrilinas- 1 e -2 em pacientes na pré-menopausa com e sem POP; (2) expressão do gene e da proteína PCP/BMP1 em pacientes na pré- e pós-menopausa com POP, e respectivos controles. Os testes de Wilcoxon signed-rank e Fisher foram usados para as análises estatísticas (p<0.05). Resultados: Obtivemos amostras de 15 pacientes e 11 controles na pré-menopausa para o estudo (1), e 39 pacientes na pré-menopausa (POP=23 e Controle=16) e 18 na pósmenopausa (POP=13 e Controle=5) para o estudo (2). A partir das análises, observamos (1) diminuição significativa na expressão dos genes LOX, LOXL1 e LOXL3, bem como nas proteínas LOX e LOXL3 no tecido vaginal de pacientes POP na pré-menopausa comparadas com mulheres assintomáticas (p<0.05); (2) hipoexpressão do gene PCP/BMP1 nos tecidos vaginais de mulheres com POP acentuado comparadas com controles, tanto na prémenopausa como na pós-menopausa (ambos p=0.01); redução significativa das isoformas 130kDa, 92,5kDa e 82,5kDa da PCP/BMP1 no tecido vaginal de pacientes na pósmenopausa (p=0.01), bem como hiperexpressão da isoforma 130kDa nas mulheres com POP acentuado na pré-menopausa (p=0.009), comparadas com as respectivas controles. Conclusão: As expressões das enzimas LOXs e pró-colágeno C proteinase estão alteradas no tecido vaginal de mulheres com POP, e são moduladas pelo estado hormonal. A alteração na regulação destas enzimas, envolvidas na biossíntese da matriz extracelular, pode contribuir para deficiente síntese do tecido conjuntivo e do suporte vaginal, e estar envolvida no desenvolvimento do POP. / Objective: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) results from the failure of pelvic floor support, and connective tissue abnormalities may be involved in the etiology and/or progression of the dysfunction. We aimed to analyze the differential expression of genes and proteins related to the collagen and elastin biogenesis: lysyl oxidases (LOXs), fibulin-5, fibrillin -1 and -2, and procollagen C proteinase (PCP/BMP1) in vaginal tissue of women without and with advanced POP controlled by hormonal status. Materials and Methods: During total hysterectomy, anterior vaginal wall biopsies were obtained from Caucasian premenopausal women (proliferative phase of menstrual cycle) and postmenopausal women with severe POP (POPQ stage III and IV) and asymptomatic controls (POPQ 0). Total mRNA and protein were extracted using Trizol and RIPA buffer, and the genes and proteins of interest were quantified by real-time RT-PCR and Immunoblotting, respectively. The following analysis were performed: (1) expression of LOX family genes and proteins (LOX and LOXL1-4), fibulin-5, fibrillin-1 and -2 in premenopausal women with and without POP; (2) PCP/BMP1 gene and protein expression in vaginal tissue of pre- and postmenopausal POP women, and respective controls. Wilcoxon signed-rank and Fisher tests were used for statistical analysis (p<0.05). Results: Samples from 15 premenopausal patients and 11 controls were obtained for study (1); 39 premenopausal (POP=23 and Control=16) and 18 postmenopausal women samples (POP=13 and Control=5) for study (2). We observed: (1) significant decrease in expression of LOX, LOXL1 and LOXL3 genes, as well as LOX and LOXL3 proteins in vaginal tissue of premenopausal POP patients compared with asymptomatic women (p<0.05); (2) PCP/BMP1 gene downregulation in the vagina of women with severe POP compared with controls, in both premenopausal and postmenopausal phase (both p=0.01); significant reduction of 130 kDa, 92.5 kDa and 82.5 kDa PCP/BMP1 isoforms in vaginal tissue of postmenopausal patients (p=0.01), and 130 kDa isoform upregulation in premenopausal women with severe POP (p=0.009), compared with their respective controls. Conclusion: The expression of LOXs enzymes and PCP/BMP1 are altered in vaginal tissue of women with severe POP, and are modulated by hormonal status. Dysregulation of these enzymes involved in the extracellular matrix biogenesis may contribute to impaired tissue and vaginal support, and may be involved in POP development. / TEDE / BV UNIFESP: Teses e dissertações