Carbonic anhydrases (CAs, EC 4.2.1.1) are a class of metalloenzymes that catalyze the hydration of CO2 under physiologic conditions and are involved in many physiological and pathological processes. Modulation of CA activity, particularly CA inhibition is exploited pharmacologically for the treatment of many diseases such as cancer, glaucoma, edemas, mountain sickness. CA activation has been less frequently investigated till recently. Genetic deficiencies of several CA isozymes are reported in the literature and reflect the important role of carbonic anhydrases in human physiology and homeostasis. Activation of CA isozymes in brain have been correlated recently with spatial learning and memory. Based on these premises, activators of CA isozymes have the potential to alleviate mild dementias and to act as potential nootropic agents. In chapter 3, continuing our long-term interests towards the development of potent and selective CAAs, we carried out X-ray crystallographic studies with a small series of pyridinium histamine derivatives, previously developed as CAAs by our group. This study revealed important insights into the binding of this class of activators into the active site of CA II isozyme. A potent pyridinium histamine CAA 25i was successfully crystallized with CA II isozyme and was found to bind into the hydrophobic region of the active site, with two binding conformations being observed. This is one of the very few X-ray crystal structures of a CAA available. Based on the findings of this X-ray crystallographic study and building on our previously developed ethylene bis-imidazole CAAs, we advanced a novel series of lipophilic bis-imidazoles. Enzymatic assays carried out on purified human CA isozymes revealed several low nanomolar potent activators against various brain-relevant CA isozymes. Bis-imidazole 30e was found to be a nanomolar potent activator for CA IV, CA VA and CA IX. Due to their conjugated structure, these CAAs were also fluorescent and therefore were fully characterized in terms of photophysical properties, with several representatives proving to display very good fluorophores. The very good activation profile against several different CA isozymes, along with excellent fluorescence properties recommend these compounds as great molecular tools for elucidation of role of CA isozymes in brain physiology, as well as towards improvement of memory and learning. Focusing on inhibition of CA isozymes, it must be stressed that over the last decade a clear connection had been established between the expression of CA IX and CA XII and cancer. Since cancer is the second most common cause of death in the world, we explored the possibility to kill cancer cells via inhibition of different CA isozymes present in cancer cells. The membrane bound carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX) isozyme represents a particularly interesting anticancer target as it is significantly overexpressed in many solid tumors as compared to normal tissues. In malign tissues this CA isozyme was found to play important role in pH homeostasis and promotes tumor cell survival, progression and metastasis. Thus, CA IX represents a potential biomarker and an appealing therapeutic target for the detection and treatment of cancer. CA IX can be targeted either through the development of small or large molecular weight, potent, and selective inhibitors or through the development of CA IX targeted drug delivery systems for selective delivery of potent chemotherapeutic agents. Building on these premises, in this dissertation, we also revealed our continuing efforts towards the development of potent and selective CA IX inhibitors along with their translation into the development of CA IX targeted drug delivery systems. In chapter 4, we designed a series of small molecular weight (MW) ureido 1,3,4-thiadiazole sulfonamide derivatives employing the “tail approach”, through the decoration of established sulfonamide CA inhibitor warheads with different tail moieties via ureido linker. The generated CAIs were tested against tumor associated CA IX and CA XII isozymes and off-target cytosolic isozymes CA I and CA II, and were revealed to be moderate to highly selective and nanomolar, even sub-nanomolar, potent CA IX inhibitors. Several potent pan-inhibitors were also identified in this section. We assessed these CAIs for their in vitro cell killing ability using MDA-MB 231 breast cancer cell line expressing CA IX and CA XII. The most efficient CAI proved to be ureido-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-sulfonamide 69, which showed subnanomolar potency against purified human CA IX and CA XII isozymes, with good selectivity against CA I and CA II, and consistent, statistically significant cancer cell killing. In Chapter 5, continuing our efforts towards the development of potent and selective CA IX inhibitors, we designed, synthesized, characterized and evaluated a new series of PEGylated 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-sulfonamide CAIs, bearing different PEG backbone length. We increased the PEG size from 1K to 20K, in order to better understand the impact of the PEG linker length on the in vitro cell killing ability against CA IX expressing cancer cell lines and also against a CA IX negative cell line. In vitro cell viability assays revealed the optimum PEG linker length for this type of bifunctional bis-sulfonamide CAIs in killing the tumor cells. The most efficient PEGylated CAI was found to bis-sulfonamide DTP1K 91, which showed consistent and significant cancer cell killing at concentrations of 10−100 μM across different CA IX and CA XII expressing cancer cell lines. DTP1K 91 did not affect the cell viability of CA IX negative NCI-H23 tumor cells, thus revealing a CA IX mediated cell killing for these inhibitors. In chapter 6, we decided to further explore the possibility of using CA IX as a targeting epitome for the development of a gold nanoparticle-based drug delivery system. We translated the oligoEG- and PEGylated CAI conjugates into efficient targeting ligands for gold nanoparticle decoration along with chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin (Dox), in a novel multi-ligand gold nanoplatform designed to selectively release the drug intracellularly, in order to enhance the selective tumor drug uptake and tumor killing. We were successful in developing compatible CAI- and Dox- ligands for efficient dual functionalization of gold nanoparticles. Our optimized, CA IX targeted gold nanoplatform was found to be very efficient towards killing HT-29 tumor cells especially under hypoxic conditions, reducing the hypoxia-induced chemoresistance, thus confirmed the potentiating role of CA IX as a targeting epitome. / Pharmaceutical Sciences

O fungo Aspergillus fumigatus é o segundo maior causador de infecções fúngicas invasivas em pacientes imunocomprometidos e a principal espécie causadora da aspergilose invasiva, doença de alta taxa de mortalidade que atinge principalmente os pulmões e que pode se disseminar pelo organismo. Durante o processo de infecção, o fungo precisa adaptar-se ao organismo do hospedeiro e um dos obstáculos encontrados é a mudança na concentração de dióxido de carbono (CO2), que, de 0,033% no ambiente, chega a até 6% no interior do hospedeiro. As anidrases carbônicas são enzimas envolvidas na hidratação reversível do CO2 e já foram apontadas como importantes na virulência de patógenos como Plasmodium falciparum, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Helicobacter pylori, Cryptococcus neoformans e Candida albicans. Esse trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o papel da enzima anidrase carbônica no desenvolvimento e virulência do fungo A. fumigatus, que apresenta quatro homólogos desta enzima (cafA, cafB, cafC e cafD). Para isso, foram utilizadas linhagens de A. fumigatus com os homólogos da enzima deletados (?cafA, ?cafB, ?cafC, ?cafD e ?cafA?cafB) e a linhagem selvagem (?akuBku80), da qual foram originadas as mutantes. Foram realizadas avaliações fenotípicas da estrutura dos conidióforos das diferentes linhagens, determinação da sensibilidade frente a diferentes agentes estressantes (antifúngicos, promotores de apoptose, estresse iônico, nitroativo, oxidativo, e de parede celular) e determinação da expressão gênica global em diferentes concentrações de CO2. Foi verificado que a deleção de cada um dos homólogos da anidrase carbônica de A. fumigatus não interfere na estrutura dos conidióforos deste fungo. Por outro lado, a deleção induziu alteração da sensibilidade do fungo frente a alguns compostos estressantes (ácido acético e peróxido de hidrogênio). Ainda, a análise da expressão gênica revelou um gene envolvido na adaptação do fungo ao aumento da concentração de CO2, o gene cipC, que não apresenta homólogos nas células de mamíferos. Este gene foi caracterizado neste trabalho por meio de sua deleção na linhagem selvagem (?akuBku80) de A. fumigatus e avaliação fenotípica microscópica e de sensibilidade a agentes estressantes (antifúngicos, promotores de apoptose, estresse iônico, nitroativo, oxidativo, e de parede celular). A deleção do gene não interferiu na estrutura do fungo, porém aumentou sua sensibilidade a alguns compostos (calcoflúor e menadiona). Foram realizados, ainda, testes de virulência em modelo animal utilizando-se o mutante ?cipC, os quais revelaram que a deleção deste gene atenua a virulência do fungo. Assim, foi possível concluir que as anidrases carbônicas não são relevantes para o desenvolvimento e virulência de A. fumigatus; porém, este fungo modifica a expressão de seus genes de modo a adaptar-se às variações na concentração atmosférica de CO2. O gene cipC está envolvido nesse processo de adaptação e é importante para o desenvolvimento do fungo e sua virulência, tornando-se um alvo para o estudo de novas terapias para o tratamento da aspergilose invasiva. / The fungus Aspergillus fumigatus is the second cause of fungal infections in immunocompromised patients and it is the main specie which causes invasive aspergillosis, a disease with high mortality rate that mainly affects the lungs and it can spread through the body. During the infectious process, the fungus must adapt to the host and one of the obstacles is the drastic change of the carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, which is 0.033% in the environment and until 6% inside the host. The carbonic anhydrases are enzymes which are involved in the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide and they have been pointed as important in the virulence of pathogens such as Plasmodium falciparum, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Helicobacter pylori, Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida albicans. This work aimed to evaluate the role of the enzyme carbonic anhydrase in the development and virulence of the fungus A. fumigatus, which has four homologues of this enzyme (cafA, cafB, cafC e cafD). Therefore, strains, which have the homologues of the enzyme deleted (?cafA, ?cafB, ?cafC, ?cafD and ?cafA?cafB) were used in parallel with the wild strain (?akuBku80), which originated the mutant ones. We did structure phenotypic evaluations of the different strains of conidiophores, sensibility determination against different stressors (antifungal agents, apoptosis, ionic, nitrosative, oxidative, and cell wall stress promoters) and global gene expression determination at different carbon dioxide concentrations. It was verified that the carbonic anhydrases homologues deletion of A. fumigatus did not interfere on the n structure (conidiophore) of this fungus, in the tested conditions. On the other hand, the deletion caused a change in sensibility of the fungus against some stressors (acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide). The gene expression experiments showed a gene involved in the adaptation to the increase of CO2 concentration, the cipC gene. This gene does not have homologues in the mammalian cells. The cipC gene was characterized in this work by its deletion in the A. fumigatus wild strain (?akuBku80) and microscopic phenotypic evaluation and sensibility tests against stressors (antifungal agents, apoptosis, ionic, nitrosative, oxidative, and cell wall stress promoters). The gene deletion did not interfere on the fungus conidiophore structure but increase its sensibility to some compounds (calcoflúor white and menadione). Virulence tests in animal model using the ?cipC mutant were done and they showed that the deletion of this gene attenuates the fungus virulence. In conclusion, the carbonic anhydrases are not relevant to development and virulence of the fungus, which modifies the gene expression to adapt to the variations of atmospheric CO2 concentration. Besides, the cipC gene seems to be involved in this adaptation process. Moreover, the cipC gene showed to be important to the development of the fungus and its virulence, which makes the gene a target for the study of new therapies for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis.

La formation d’un squelette de CaCO3 par les coraux Scléractiniaires est à la base de l’édification des récifs coralliens. Nombre de ces coraux constructeurs de récif vivent en symbiose avec des Dinoflagellés photosynthétiques. Ces deux processus reposent sur le transport et l’utilisation de carbone inorganique (Ci) provenant de l’eau de mer pour la photosynthèse, et du métabolisme animal pour la calcification. Cette thèse s’est intéressée à l’étude moléculaire et physiologique des mécanismes, permettant l’utilisation de ce carbone inorganique.Malgré l’importance des transports de HCO3-, aucun transporteur n’a été caractérisé à cejour et leur implication dans la physiologie des coraux n’est que suggérée par la pharmacologie. Durant cette thèse nous avons cloné un gène codant pour un transporteur deHCO3- chez le corail Acropora sp. La conversion de ce HCO3- en CO2 pour la photosynthèse est facilitée par l’acidification de l’environnement proche du Dinoflagellé dans la cellule animale. Cette acidification est causée par une H+-ATPase de type P que nous avons caractérisée. Ce gène est le premier à montrer une expression dépendante de la vie en symbiose chez le symbiote.Nous avons aussi cloné et localisé deux anhydrases carboniques (AC). L’une impliquée dans la calcification et l’autre dans la régulation du pH intracellulaire et l’équilibre entre leCO2 et HCO3-. Une étude pharmacologique de ces deux AC, a identifié des molécules inhibitrices et activatrices qui ont permis des expériences de physiologie in vivo. Celles-ci permettent une analyse plus discriminante du rôle des AC dans la calcification. / Coral reefs edification is based on the formation of a calcium carbonate skeleton byscleractinian corals. Many of these reef-building corals establish a symbiotic association with photosynthetic Dinoflagellates. Both processes involve the transport and utilization of inorganic carbon (Ci) coming from seawater for photosynthesis, and from animal metabolismfor calcification. This work focused on the molecular and physiological study of poorlyknown mechanisms that allow the utilization of Ci.Despite the importance of bicarbonate transport, no transporter has been characterized and their role in coral physiology is only suggested by pharmacological experiments. We have cloned a gene encoding a bicarbonate transporter in the coral Acropora sp. The conversion of this bicarbonate into CO2 for photosynthesis is mediated by the acidification of the are asurrounding the Dinoflagellate in the animal cell. This is performed by a P type H+-ATPasethat we characterized here. This is the first gene with a symbiosis-dependent expression in the symbiont.This work also allowed the cloning and the localization of two carbonic anhydrases (CA).The first one is involved in calcification, the second one plays a role in the intracellular pHregulation and the CO2 / HCO3- equilibrium. A pharmacological study of these two enzymes identified inhibitor and activator compounds that have been then used in physiology experiments. This last approach represents a more accurate study of the role of CAs incalcification.

O fungo Aspergillus fumigatus é o segundo maior causador de infecções fúngicas invasivas em pacientes imunocomprometidos e a principal espécie causadora da aspergilose invasiva, doença de alta taxa de mortalidade que atinge principalmente os pulmões e que pode se disseminar pelo organismo. Durante o processo de infecção, o fungo precisa adaptar-se ao organismo do hospedeiro e um dos obstáculos encontrados é a mudança na concentração de dióxido de carbono (CO2), que, de 0,033% no ambiente, chega a até 6% no interior do hospedeiro. As anidrases carbônicas são enzimas envolvidas na hidratação reversível do CO2 e já foram apontadas como importantes na virulência de patógenos como Plasmodium falciparum, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Helicobacter pylori, Cryptococcus neoformans e Candida albicans. Esse trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o papel da enzima anidrase carbônica no desenvolvimento e virulência do fungo A. fumigatus, que apresenta quatro homólogos desta enzima (cafA, cafB, cafC e cafD). Para isso, foram utilizadas linhagens de A. fumigatus com os homólogos da enzima deletados (?cafA, ?cafB, ?cafC, ?cafD e ?cafA?cafB) e a linhagem selvagem (?akuBku80), da qual foram originadas as mutantes. Foram realizadas avaliações fenotípicas da estrutura dos conidióforos das diferentes linhagens, determinação da sensibilidade frente a diferentes agentes estressantes (antifúngicos, promotores de apoptose, estresse iônico, nitroativo, oxidativo, e de parede celular) e determinação da expressão gênica global em diferentes concentrações de CO2. Foi verificado que a deleção de cada um dos homólogos da anidrase carbônica de A. fumigatus não interfere na estrutura dos conidióforos deste fungo. Por outro lado, a deleção induziu alteração da sensibilidade do fungo frente a alguns compostos estressantes (ácido acético e peróxido de hidrogênio). Ainda, a análise da expressão gênica revelou um gene envolvido na adaptação do fungo ao aumento da concentração de CO2, o gene cipC, que não apresenta homólogos nas células de mamíferos. Este gene foi caracterizado neste trabalho por meio de sua deleção na linhagem selvagem (?akuBku80) de A. fumigatus e avaliação fenotípica microscópica e de sensibilidade a agentes estressantes (antifúngicos, promotores de apoptose, estresse iônico, nitroativo, oxidativo, e de parede celular). A deleção do gene não interferiu na estrutura do fungo, porém aumentou sua sensibilidade a alguns compostos (calcoflúor e menadiona). Foram realizados, ainda, testes de virulência em modelo animal utilizando-se o mutante ?cipC, os quais revelaram que a deleção deste gene atenua a virulência do fungo. Assim, foi possível concluir que as anidrases carbônicas não são relevantes para o desenvolvimento e virulência de A. fumigatus; porém, este fungo modifica a expressão de seus genes de modo a adaptar-se às variações na concentração atmosférica de CO2. O gene cipC está envolvido nesse processo de adaptação e é importante para o desenvolvimento do fungo e sua virulência, tornando-se um alvo para o estudo de novas terapias para o tratamento da aspergilose invasiva. / The fungus Aspergillus fumigatus is the second cause of fungal infections in immunocompromised patients and it is the main specie which causes invasive aspergillosis, a disease with high mortality rate that mainly affects the lungs and it can spread through the body. During the infectious process, the fungus must adapt to the host and one of the obstacles is the drastic change of the carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, which is 0.033% in the environment and until 6% inside the host. The carbonic anhydrases are enzymes which are involved in the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide and they have been pointed as important in the virulence of pathogens such as Plasmodium falciparum, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Helicobacter pylori, Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida albicans. This work aimed to evaluate the role of the enzyme carbonic anhydrase in the development and virulence of the fungus A. fumigatus, which has four homologues of this enzyme (cafA, cafB, cafC e cafD). Therefore, strains, which have the homologues of the enzyme deleted (?cafA, ?cafB, ?cafC, ?cafD and ?cafA?cafB) were used in parallel with the wild strain (?akuBku80), which originated the mutant ones. We did structure phenotypic evaluations of the different strains of conidiophores, sensibility determination against different stressors (antifungal agents, apoptosis, ionic, nitrosative, oxidative, and cell wall stress promoters) and global gene expression determination at different carbon dioxide concentrations. It was verified that the carbonic anhydrases homologues deletion of A. fumigatus did not interfere on the n structure (conidiophore) of this fungus, in the tested conditions. On the other hand, the deletion caused a change in sensibility of the fungus against some stressors (acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide). The gene expression experiments showed a gene involved in the adaptation to the increase of CO2 concentration, the cipC gene. This gene does not have homologues in the mammalian cells. The cipC gene was characterized in this work by its deletion in the A. fumigatus wild strain (?akuBku80) and microscopic phenotypic evaluation and sensibility tests against stressors (antifungal agents, apoptosis, ionic, nitrosative, oxidative, and cell wall stress promoters). The gene deletion did not interfere on the fungus conidiophore structure but increase its sensibility to some compounds (calcoflúor white and menadione). Virulence tests in animal model using the ?cipC mutant were done and they showed that the deletion of this gene attenuates the fungus virulence. In conclusion, the carbonic anhydrases are not relevant to development and virulence of the fungus, which modifies the gene expression to adapt to the variations of atmospheric CO2 concentration. Besides, the cipC gene seems to be involved in this adaptation process. Moreover, the cipC gene showed to be important to the development of the fungus and its virulence, which makes the gene a target for the study of new therapies for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis.