O Projeto Genoma Humano do Câncer (PGHC), financiado pela FAPESP e pelo Instituto Ludwig de Pesquisa sobre o câncer, buscou identificar os genes expressos nos tipos mais comuns de câncer no Brasil. Tal projeto conseguiu identificar aproximadamente um milhão de seqüências de genes de tumores freqüentes no Brasil. A contribuição brasileira foi maior para tumores de cabeça e pescoço, mama e cólon. Uma das iniciativas mais recentes e estimuladas pelo PGHC é o projeto Genoma Clínico, o qual visa desenvolver novas formas de diagnóstico e tratamento do câncer através do estudo de genes expressos. A partir da análise molecular de tecidos saudáveis e neoplásicos em diferentes estágios, é possível identificar marcadores de prognóstico, permitindo escolhas de terapias mais adequadas e eficientes. A proteína hnRNP K foi identificada como um desses marcadores, em neoplasias da região da cabeça e pescoço, sendo objetivo deste estudo a aplicação de técnicas de bioinformática e modelagem molecular no planejamento baseado em estrutura de candidatos a fármacos antineoplásicos que bloqueiem a atividade da proteína. A proteína hnRNP K apresenta diversas funções e é encontrada nos mais diversos compartimentos celulares, interferindo, basicamente, no sistema de expressão gênica. Essa proteína apresenta 3 domínios KH, os quais são responsáveis por sua ligação à moléculas de DNA e RNA. Modelos de boa qualidade dos domínios KH foram construídos através da estratégia de modelagem molecular por homologia estrutural. Após screening virtual em bases de dados de compostos (330.000 aproximadamente) com propriedades drug-like, 15 compostos com potencial de interação com o domínio KH3 foram selecionados. Os modos de ligação para cada um dos mesmos no sítio ligante do domínio KH3 foram sugeridos por simulações de docking e apresentaram um bom encaixe espacial com os sítios receptores virtuais calculados pelos campos de interação molecular. Simulações de dinâmica molecular foram realizadas com o intuito de avaliar a estabilidade dos compostos selecionados, que também foram avaliados quanto à presença de grupamentos toxicofóricos em sua estrutura. / The Brazilian Project Genoma Câncer (PGHC) supported by FAPESP and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, intended to identify the genes involved in the most common cases of cancer in Brazil. In this project about a million of gene sequences were identified. The major contribution was made in breast, colorectal and head and neck cancers. The results obtained stimulated the creation of another project, called Genoma Clínico, which intend to develop new trends in treatments and diagnosis of cancer based on the study of expressed genes. Analyzing healthy and neoplasic tissues in different stages, it is possible to identify molecular markers related to the prognosis of cancer, allowing the use of more efficient therapies. The hnRNP K protein was identified as a molecular marker in head and neck cancer, where the objective of this work lies in the application of bioinformatics and molecular modeling strategies by structure-based drug design to identify potential antineoplasic drug candicates that could act against hnRNP K protein. The hnRNP K protein is encountered in all cellular compartments and act, basically, in the gene expression pathways. Its structure is composed by three KH domains that mediate interactions with DNA and RNA molecules. High quality models of KH domains were built by homology modeling. After the virtual screening simulations performed with drug-like compound databases, containing approximately 330.000 compounds, 15 were selected as potential ligands of KH3 domain of hnRNP K. The binding modes suggested for these compounds, by docking simulations, presented a good spatial fit when compared with the virtual receptor sites calculated by molecular interaction fields. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed in order to evaluate de stability of the binding modes suggested. The potential ligands were also evaluated to identify toxicophoric features in its chemical structures.

A Doença de Alzheimer (DA) é um transtorno progressivo que acomete o Sistema Nervoso Central, causando demência em idosos. A doença leva a uma diminuição da memória, dificuldade no raciocínio e pensamento e alterações comportamentais. A fisiopatologia da doença corresponde ao aumento na concentração do peptídeo -amilóide com consequente deposição e formação da placa amiloide; e também ao aparecimento dos emaranhados neurofibrilares, que são agregados de proteína tau hiperfosforilada. A enzima glicogênio sintase cinase 3 beta (GSK-3) está diretamente envolvida nos dois processos e, por isso, a busca por novos inibidores dessa enzima é uma importante estratégia terapêutica para o tratamento da doença. Neste trabalho utilizou-se a triagem virtual em 7 bancos de dados de moléculas aplicando cinco diferentes estratégias in silico, através de planejamento de fármacos baseado em ligantes e baseado em estrutura, combinada com estudos in silico de farmacocinética, toxicidade e atividade biológica, seguido de posteriores ensaios de inibição enzimática in vitro. Obteve-se três compostos pela metodologia de farmacóforo, (Estratégia 3) dos quais dois deles demonstraram atividade inibitória interessante para GSK-3, na faixa de micromolar. A partir das outras quatro estratégias foram selecionados 16 compostos que futuramente serão também testados utilizando o mesmo protocolo de ensaio in vitro aqui utilizado. / Alzheimer\'s disease (AD) is a progressive disorder that affects the Central Nervous System, causing dementia in the elderly. The disease leads to decreased memory, difficulty in reasoning and thinking, and behavioral changes. The pathophysiology of the disease corresponds to the increase in -amyloid peptide concentration with consequent deposition and formation of the amyloid plaque and to the appearance of neurofibrillary tangles, which are aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. The enzyme glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3) is directly involved in both processes and, therefore, the search for new inhibitors of this enzyme is an important therapeutic strategy for the treatment of the disease. In this work, we used virtual screening in 7 molecule databases applying five different in silico strategies, using the ligand-based and structure-based drug design methodologies, combined with in silico studies of pharmacokinetics, toxicity and biological activity, followed by subsequent assays enzymatic inhibition in vitro. We obtained three compounds by the pharmacophore methodology (Strategy 3) of which two of them demonstrated interesting inhibitory activity for GSK-3 in the micromolar range. From the other four strategies, 16 compounds were selected which in future will also be tested using the same in vitro assay protocol used here.

Le criblage virtuel est de plus en plus utilisé dans les programmes de recherche de nouveaux principes actifs. L’augmentation considérable du nombre de structures résolues a favorisé le recours aux méthodes basées sur la structure de la cible comme le docking. Néanmoins, le choix de la/des structure(s) à utiliser demeure une question d’actualité. Pour tenter d'apporter une réponse, les résultats des études de docking menées sur la banque d’évaluation de référence (DUD) ont été analysés en prenant en compte les propriétés des sites de liaisons des structures de référence. D’intéressants résultats ont été obtenus mettant en évidence l'influence du volume et de l’ouverture des sites actifs sur les performances des méthodes. Ces critères de sélection simples et peu coûteux peuvent servir pour l’optimisation de protocoles de docking.Alors qu’aucune petite molécule inhibitrice du TNFα n’est actuellement commercialisée, l’application d’un protocole hiérarchique de criblage virtuel/in vitro, a permis d’identifier des touches actives. L’une d’elle, de squelette benzènesulfonamide a fait l’objet de pharmacomodulation en vue d’obtenir des analogues optimisés. Vingt molécules inédites ont été synthétisées et testées in vitro et certaines ont montré une activité intéressante. L’ensemble des données obtenues apportent des éléments importants de relation structure-activité. Ces résultats peuvent être exploités pour la conception de molécules innovantes ciblant le TNFα ce qui serait une avancée prometteuse pour le traitement des pathologies liées à une surproduction de cette cytokine comme la polyarthrite rhumatoïde et la maladie de Crohn. / Virtual screening is widely used in drug discovery programs. The increasing number of resolved structures favored the use of Structure Based Virtual Ligand Screening methods like docking. Nevertheless, the choice of the structure(s) used as reference remains a topical issue when several are available. In this work, DUD database docking results were analyzed taking into account the properties of the query structure(s) binding sites. Interesting results were obtained highlighting the influence of active site volume and opening on methods performances. These simple and inexpensive “binding site properties-based” guidelines could be helpful to optimize future docking protocols.Despite important effort, no active small molecule targeting TNFα has been released so far. The use of a virtual/ in vitro hierarchical approach screening allowed identifying some active hits. Starting from one of them with a benzenesulfonamide structure, pharmacomodulation was achieved in order to obtain optimized analogs. Twenty new chemical derivatives with an original structure were synthesized and tested in vitro. Some of them exhibited an interesting activity. Moreover, data obtained provide important elements of structure-activity relationship. These results could constitute the basis for innovative small molecule TNFα-targeted therapeutics which would be a promising step for the treatment of diseases related to overproduction of this cytokine such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease.

Résumé confidentiel / Résumé confidentiel

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are omnipresent and persistent environmental pollutants. In particular, 29 congeners are of special concern, and these are usually referred to as dioxin-like compounds (DLCs). In the European Union, the risks associated with DLCs in food products are estimated by a weighted sum of the DLCs’ concentrations. These weights, also called toxic equivalency factors (TEFs), compare the DLCs’ potencies to the most toxic congener, 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin (2378- TCDD). The toxicological effects of PCDD/Fs and PCBs are diverse, ranging from chloracne and immunological effects in humans to severe weight loss, thymic atrophy, hepatotoxicity, immunotoxicity, endocrine disruption, and carcinogenesis in rodents. Here, the molecular structures of DLCs were used as the basis to study the congeneric differences in in vitro data from both human and rodent cell responses related to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). Based on molecular orbital densities and partial charges, we developed new ways to describe DLCs, which proved to be useful in quantitative structure-activity relationship modeling. This thesis also provides a new approach, the calculation of the consensus toxicity factor (CTF), to condense information from a battery of screening tests. The current TEFs used to estimate the risk of DLCs in food are primarily based on in vivo information from rat and mouse experiments. Our CTFs, based on human cell responses, show clear differences compared to the current TEFs. For instance, the CTF of 23478-PeCDF is as high as the CTF for 2378-TCDD, and the CTF of PCB 126 is 30 times lower than the corresponding TEF. Both of these DLCs are common congeners in fish in the Baltic Sea. Due to the severe effects of DLCs and their impact on environmental and human health, it is crucial to determine if other compounds have similar effects. To find such compounds, we developed a virtual screening protocol and applied it to a set of 6,445 industrial chemicals. This protocol included a presumed 3D representation of AhR and the structural and chemical properties of known AhR ligands. This screening resulted in a priority list of 28 chemicals that we identified as potential AhR ligands.

Pancreatic cancer is relatively uncommon. Despite its relative scarcity, it is the fourth-ranked cancer killer in the Western world with less than a 5% 5-year survival rate. The high mortality rate is due to the asymptomatic nature of the disease and the advanced stage at which it is usually diagnosed. S100P is a calcium-binding protein that has been shown to be highly expressed in the early stages of pancreatic cancer and has been proposed as a potential therapeutic target via the blocking of its interaction with its receptor RAGE, the receptor for advanced glycation end-products. In this thesis, computational techniques were employed on the NMR ensemble of S100P (PDB Accession code 1OZO) to identify potential inhibitors of the S100P-RAGE interaction in the hope of identifying a series of novel leads that could be developed into clinical candidates for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. In silico studies identified putative binding sites at the S100P dimeric interface capable of accommodating cromolyn, an anti-allergy drug shown to bind to the protein both in vitro and in vivo. Virtual screening of >1 million lead-like compounds using 3D pharmacophore models derived from the predicted binding interactions between S100P and cromolyn, identified 9,408 'hits'. These were hierarchically clustered according to similarities between chemical structures into 299 clusters and 77 singletons. Biological screening of 17 of the 'hits' identified from virtual screening stuidies, 4 of which were synthesised in-house, against pancreatic cancer cell lines identified five compounds that demonstrated an equal or greater capacity to reduce BxPC-3 S100P-expressing pancreatic cells' metastatic potential in vitro relative to cromolyn. Compound 24 in particular, showed significant (p<0.05) inhibition of invasion of these cells at a concentration of 100 μM that was comparable to cromolyn at the same concentration. This compound, structurally distinct from cromolyn, was successfully synthesised, purified and characterised in-house alongside 39 of its analogues. Biological screening of compound 24 and four of its analogues for anti-proliferative activity against BxPC-3 and Panc-1 pancreatic cancer cell lines showed all five compounds significantly (p < 0.0001) inhibiting proliferation in both cell lines at a concentration of 1 μM relative to the non-treated control. Hence, structurally distinct compounds that show promising inhibitory activity on the metastasis and proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells have been identified using a structure-based drug design methodology. These compounds, with further optimisation, could provide good starting points as therapeutic lead candidates for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

L’Institut National des Produits Chimiques de l’Académie des Sciences du Vietnam (INPC) développe depuis plusieurs années une activité autour de la recherche de nouveaux médicaments issus de la biodiversité. Le développement d’un nouveau médicament prend de l’ordre d’une dizaine d’années et passe par plusieurs phases. Dans la phase de découverte, l’activité des composés chimiques sur une cible biologique est mesurée afin de mettre en évidence une action inhibitrice. Le développement d’approches in silico pour le criblage virtuel des composés chimiques est une alternative aux approches classiques in vitro beaucoup plus coûteuses à mettre en œuvre. L’utilisation de la grille a été identifiée comme une voie économiquement prometteuse pour accompagner la recherche de nouveaux médicaments au Vietnam. En effet, le développement de nouvelles stratégies basées sur l’utilisation de plates-formes de soumission de tâches (DIRAC, HTCaaS) a permis d’améliorer considérablement le taux de succès et le confort des utilisateurs, ouvrant la voie à une démocratisation de la grille.Dans ce contexte, l’objectif poursuivi dans le cadre de cette thèse est d’étudier dans quelle mesure des plates-formes multidisciplinaires pouvaient répondre aux besoins des chimistes de l’INPC. Le travail s’est concentré sur les modalités d’un partage équitable d’une plate-forme de soumission de tâches sur la grille par une ou plusieurs communautés d’utilisateurs. L’ordonnancement des tâches sur un serveur commun doit permettre que les différents groupes aient une expérience positive et comparable. Sur les infrastructures de grille EGEE et EGI en Europe , on peut distinguer deux grandes catégories d’utilisateurs : les utilisateurs « normaux » qui vont solliciter les ressources pour des tâches requérant typiquement de quelques dizaines à quelques centaines d’heures de calcul, et les « gros » utilisateurs qui vont lancer des grandes productions nécessitant le traitement de plusieurs milliers de tâches pendant des dizaines, voire des centaines de milliers d’heures de calcul. Les stratégies d’ordonnancement déployées aujourd’hui sur les plates-formes comme DIRAC ou HTCaaS ne permettent pas de servir de façon optimale et simultanée ces deux familles d’utilisateurs.Le manuscrit présente une évaluation par simulation des performances de plusieurs stratégies d’ordonnancement des tâches d’une plate-forme soumettant des jobs pilotes. L’outil SimGrid a permis de simuler l’infrastructure de grille régionale déployée en Auvergne à partir de traces archivées de son utilisation. Après évaluation des performances de plusieurs politiques d’ordonnancement tirées de la littérature, une nouvelle politique a été proposée dans laquelle les utilisateurs normaux et les très gros utilisateurs sont gérés de façon indépendante. Grâce à cette politique, le ralentissement expérimenté par les très gros utilisateurs est réduit significativement sans pénaliser excessivement les utilisateurs normaux. L’étude a été étendue à une fédération de clouds utilisant les mêmes ressources et arrive aux mêmes conclusions. Les performances des politiques d’ordonnancement ont ensuite été évaluées sur des environnements de production, à savoir l’infrastructure de grille européenne EGI et l’infrastructure nationale de supercalculateurs de la Corée du Sud. Un serveur DIRAC a été adossé aux ressources de l’organisation virtuelle biomédicale d’EGI pour étudier les ralentissements observés par les utilisateurs de ce serveur. Pareillement, les ralentissements expérimentés par les utilisateurs de la plate-forme HTCaaS au KISTI ont été observés en excellent accord avec les résultats de simulation avec SimGrid.Ces travaux confirment la faisabilité et l’intérêt d’une plate-forme unique au Vietnam au service des communautés scientifiques consommatrices des ressources académiques de grille et de cloud, notamment pour la recherche de nouveaux médicaments. / Virtual Screening (VS) is a computational technique used in the drug discovery process to select the most promising candidate drugs for in vitro testing from millions of chemical compounds. This method can offer an efficient alternative to reduce the cost of drug discovery and platform. The Natural Products Chemistry Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Vietnam (INPC) collects samples from local biodiversity and determines the 3D structure of single molecules. Their challenge is to set up a virtual screening platform on grid computing for their chemists to process their data. However, as the number of users who might have a wide range of virtual screening applications (in terms of the number of tasks and execution time) increases with limited available computing resources, it becomes crucial to devise an effective scheduling policy that can ensure a certain degree of fairness, user satisfaction and overall system throughput. In this context, the thesis focuses on an effective scheduling policy for the virtual screening workflow where multiple users with varying numbers of tasks are actively sharing a common system infrastructure. We have researched in theory and proposed some candidate policies. With the simulation results and the experimentation results in real system, we proposed the best policy for the fairness between users, which can be applied to INPC virtual screening platform.

Computational drug design methods have great potential in drug discovery particularly in lead identification and lead optimization. 3-Phosphoinositide dependent kinase-1 (PDK1) is a protein kinase and a well validated anti-cancer target. Inhibitors of PDK1 have the potential to be developed as anti-cancer drugs. In this work, we have applied various novel computational drug design strategies to design and identify new PDK1 inhibitors with potential anti-cancer activity. We have pursued novel structure-based drug design strategies and identified a new binding mode for celecoxib and its derivatives binding with PDK1. This new binding mode provides a valuable basis for rational design of potent PDK1 inhibitors. In order to understand the structure-activity relationship of indolinone-based PDK1 inhibitors, we have carried out a combined molecular docking and three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) modeling study. The predictive ability of the developed 3D-QSAR models were validated using an external test set of compounds. An efficient strategy of the hierarchical virtual screening with increasing complexity was pursued to identify new hits against PDK1. Our approach uses a combination of ligand-based and structure-based virtual screening including shape-based filtering, rigid docking, and flexible docking. In addition, a more sophisticated molecular dynamics/molecular mechanics- Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MD/MM-PBSA) analysis was used as the final filter in the virtual screening. Our screening strategy has led to the identification of a new PDK1 inhibitor. The anticancer activities of this compound have been confirmed by the anticancer activity assays of national cancer institute-developmental therapeutics program (NCI-DTP) using 60 cancer cell lines. The PDK1-inhibitor binding mode determined in this study may be valuable in future de novo drug design. The virtual screening approach tested and used in this study could also be applied to lead identification in other drug discovery efforts.

A avaliação da aprendizagem é um elemento eminentemente comunicativo e processual. Assim sendo, é capaz de proporcionar informações que podem provocar decisões acertadas na perspectiva de uma aprendizagem significativa, a partir de procedimentos, técnicas e instrumentos adequados, entretanto é uma prática de contradições que sofre críticas. Devido à atuação na Educação a distância e interesse pelo objeto avaliação da aprendizagem há alguns anos, teve-se nessa investigação a oportunidade de visualizá-lo em um novo contexto e sob um novo olhar teórico-metodológico, a Teoria das representações sociais. Com o objetivo de investigar as representações sociais da avaliação da aprendizagem virtual de tutores em curso de graduação a distância, neste trabalho aprecia-se algumas obras de autores nacionais e internacionais. Com o estudo de caso, indica-se o panorama atual da avaliação no campo da pesquisa, a partir de normas e do Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem, além das falas em entrevista com 20 tutores a distância do Curso de Pedagogia, em uma instituição pública de ensino superior, localizada no Nordeste do Brasil. Compreende-se que embora o grupo experimente angústias na tutoria a distância, manifesta uma atitude favorável à Educação a distância, às Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação, ao processo de avaliação como um todo e, em meio às contradições, tensões e incertezas, apresenta em relação ao objeto da pesquisa avaliação da aprendizagem virtual uma representação social, em construção, ancorada em um discurso pedagógico crítico, que transita, nesse novo contexto, no embate com a prática, ainda baseada em elementos de uma vivência com a avaliação tradicional. O estudo mostra os pensamentos, sentimentos e atitudes do grupo acerca da avaliação da aprendizagem virtual, expressos na representação social que está sendo construída e revela o anseio por uma prática avaliativa efetivamente processual, mais humanizadora, mais sensível, mais interativa e mais inclusiva, fazendo frente à prática, ainda marcada pela pedagogia do exame. Prática essa que é possível mediante alteração das condições do contexto do objeto e também pelo caráter dinâmico da RS, aberta à reconstrução, permitindo a reorganização da sua configuração. / The evaluation of learning and an element highly communicative and procedural. That being so, it is able to provide information that may cause good decisions from the perspective of significant learning, from procedures, techniques and appropriate instruments, however, it is a practice of contradictions and suffers criticism in education. Due to the actuation in distance learning and interest in the object `assessment of learning a few years ago, it was in this research the opportunity to view it in a new context and under a new look theoretical-methodological, the theory of social representations. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the social representations of the evaluation of virtual learning for tutors in undergraduate course at a distance, in this work we appreciate some works of national and international authors. The case indicates the current panorama of the evaluation in the field of research, from standards and the Virtual Learning Environment, in addition to the statements in an interview with 20 tutors to distance, the undergraduate course in Pedagogy, in an institution of higher education public, located in the State of Brazil. It is understood that although the group try anxieties tutoring in the distance, expressed a favorable attitude towards distance education, the evaluation process as a whole, and in the midst of contradictions, tensions and uncertainties, presents to the object of the search `evaluation of virtual learning a social representation in construction, anchored in a critical pedagogical discourse that moves in the clash, with practice, this new context, although based on an experience with traditional assessment. The study shows the thoughts, feelings and attitudes of the group on the evaluation of virtual learning, expressed in social representation being built, reveals the yearning for a procedural evaluation practice effectively, more humanizing, more sensitive, more interactive and more inclusive, making forward practice even with pedagogy marked by the exam. What is possible by changing the conditions of the object context and given the dynamic character of a social representation, open reconstruction, allowing the reorganization of its configuration.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Given the significant disease burden caused by human coronaviruses, the discovery of an effective antiviral strategy is paramount, however there is still no effective therapy to combat infection. This thesis details the in silica exploration of ligand libraries to identify candidate lead compounds that, based on multiple criteria, have a high probability of inhibiting the 3 chymotrypsin-like protease (3CUro) of human coronaviruses. Atomistic models of the 3CUro were obtained from the Protein Data Bank or theoretical models were successfully generated by homology modelling. These structures served the basis of both structure- and ligand-based drug design studies. Consensus molecular docking and pharmacophore modelling protocols were adapted to explore the ZINC Drugs-Now dataset in a high throughput virtual screening strategy to identify ligands which computationally bound to the active site of the 3CUro . Molecular dynamics was further utilized to confirm the binding mode and interactions observed in the static structure- and ligand-based techniques were correct via analysis of various parameters in a IOns simulation. Molecular docking and pharmacophore models identified a total of 19 ligands which displayed the potential to computationally bind to all 3CUro included in the study. Strategies employed to identify these lead compounds also indicated that a known inhibitor of the SARS-Co V 3CUro also has potential as a broad spectrum lead compound. Further analysis by molecular dynamic simulations largely confirmed the binding mode and ligand orientations identified by the former techniques. The comprehensive approach used in this study improves the probability of identifying experimental actives and represents a cost effective pipeline for the often expensive and time consuming process of lead discovery. These identified lead compounds represent an ideal starting point for assays to confirm in vitro activity, where experimentally confirmed actives will be proceeded to subsequent studies on lead optimization.