La tumeur de Wilms est la tumeur du rein la plus courante chez les enfants. Actuellement, près de 80 % à 90 % des patients survivent, mais quelques patients ne répondront pas aux traitements ou auront une rechute. L’objectif de ce projet est de caractériser la nouvelle mutation P904L dans le gène DNMT3A retrouvée chez un patient atteint de la tumeur de Wilms qui était en rechute. L’impact de cette nouvelle mutation est encore inconnu, mais des mutations dans le gène de DNMT3A sont fréquemment retrouvées dans le cancer. Le contexte de la mutation dans le patient et sa récurrence dans d’autres cancers et syndrome nous portent à croire que cette mutation affecte la fonction de DNMT3A. La perte de fonction de DNMT3A ainsi que certains de ses mutants sont connus pour altérer des caractéristiques du cancer comme la différenciation et l’immortalisation des cellules. On sait aussi que les tumeurs de Wilms ont des cellules qui gardent un aspect non différencié ou embryonnaire. Nous supposons que l’impact de la mutation P904L sur DNMT3A contribue au développement de la tumeur de Wilms. Pour démontrer l’impact de cette nouvelle mutation sur la protéine et sur le développement tumoral, nous avons utilisé à la fois des tests fonctionnels classiques et le séquençage de nouvelle génération. Puisque DNMT3A est un gène qui affecte la méthylation de l’ADN et régule l’expression, nous avons évalué le profil d’expression de la mutation P904L pour voir son impact sur la fonction du gène DNMT3A. Nos travaux démontrent que la nouvelle mutation P904L cause une perte de fonction de l’enzyme DNMT3A. Cette mutation altère le renouvellement cellulaire et la migration en plus de moduler la réponse à des agents thérapeutiques. Nous avons aussi constaté que la mutation module l’expression génique et que cette modulation est cohérente avec le profil d’expression du patient. En conclusion, nous suggérons trois mécanismes par lesquels le mutant contribue à la progression et au développement de la tumeur de Wilms. Nous démontrons aussi la nécessité d’approfondir nos connaissances sur cette tumeur afin de pouvoir proposer de nouvelles options thérapeutiques aux patients en rechute ou qui ne répondent pas aux traitements classiques. / Wilms tumours are the most common kidney tumour in children. As of now, almost 80 % to 90 % of the patients survive but there is still some who do not respond. This project objective is to study the novel mutation P904L in the DNMT3A gene discovered in a relapse Wilms tumour’s patient. The impact of this variant is unknown, but mutations in DNMT3A are frequently found in cancer. The context of the mutation in the patient and the recurrence of this mutation in other cancers and syndrome make us believe that it is affecting the function of the DNMT3A protein. Loss of function and some mutations of DNMT3A are known to affect crucial characteristics of cancers such as differentiation and immortalization. It is also known that Wilms tumours are made of undifferentiated or embryonic looking cells. We supposed that the impact of the mutation on DNMT3A protein contribute to the development of the tumour. To prove that this new mutation is affecting the protein and the development of the tumour, we used both functional assays and next generation sequencing technologies. Because DNMT3A is a gene affecting the methylation of the DNA and thus regulating gene expression, we used expression profile to assess the impact of the mutation on the enzyme DNMT3A. We demonstrate that the new mutation P904L causes a loss of function of the DNMT3A protein. This mutation affects the self-renew and the migration of the cells. Moreover, it modulates the response to drugs. We also found that the mutation modulates the gene expression in the cell line and this modulation is coherent with the expression pattern of the patient. In conclusion, we suggest three mechanisms by which this new mutant contributes to the development and progression of Wilms tumours. We also show that there is a need to further our knowledge of this tumour in order to propose new therapeutics options to non-responsive patient.

<p>DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that is nearly ubiquitous. Eukaryotic DNA methylation contributes to the regulation of gene expression and maintaining genome integrity. In mammals, DNA methylation occurs primarily on the C5 carbon of cytosine in a CpG dinucleotide context and is catalyzed by the DNA methyltransferases, DNMT1, DNMT3A and DNMT3B. While <i>dnmt3a</i> and <i>dnmt3b</i> genes are highly homologous, the enzymes have distinct functions. Some previous reports suggested differences in the enzymatic behavior of DNMT3A and 3B, which could affect their biological roles. The goal of my thesis work was to characterize kinetics mechanisms of DNMT3A and 3B, and to identify the similarities and differences in their catalytic properties that contribute to their distinct biological functions. Given the sequence similarity between the enzymes, we asked whether DNMT3B was kinetically similar to DNMT3A. In a series of experiments designed to distinguish between various kinetics mechanisms, we reported that unlike DNMT3A, DNMT3B methylated tandem CpG on DNA in a processive manner. We also reported that the disruption of the R-D interface, critical for the cooperativity of DNMT3A, had no effect on DNMT3B activity, supporting the non-cooperative mechanism of this enzyme. </p> <p>DNMT3A is frequently mutated in numerous cancers. Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a malignancy of hematopoietic stem cells in which numerous patients exhibit a high frequency of the heterozygous somatic mutation Arg882His in DNMT3A. Through thorough consensus motif building, we discovered a strong similarity in CpG flanking sequence preference between DNMT3A Arg882His variant and DNMT3B enzyme. Moreover, we found that the variant enzyme has the same kinetics mechanism as DNMT3B, indicating a gain-of-function effect caused by the mutation. This change is significant because the variant enzyme can aberrantly methylate DNMT3B targets in AML cells and effect global gene expression. In particular, given that DNMT3B has been shown to have oncogenic properties, this suggests that the Arg882His variant can acquire similar oncogenic properties and drive AML development.</p> <p>Taken together, my thesis work provides novel insights into the relationship between the biochemical properties and the biological functions of DNMT3A and 3B. </p>

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