Background: Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common pediatric brain tumor. Current treatment regimes consisting of primary surgery followed by radio- and chemotherapy, achieve 5-year overall survival rates of only about 60 %. Therapy-induced endocrine and neurocognitive deficits are common late adverse effects. Thus, improved antitumor strategies are urgently needed. In this study, we combined irradiation (IR) together with epigenetic modifiers and differentiation inducers in a multimodal approach to enhance the efficiency of tumor therapy in MB and also assessed possible late adverse effects on neurogenesis. Methods: In three human MB cell lines (DAOY, MEB-Med8a, D283-Med) short-time survival (trypan blue exclusion assay), apoptosis, autophagy, cell cycle distribution, formation of gH2AX foci, and long-term reproductive survival (clonogenic assay) were analyzed after treatment with 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5-azadC), valproic acid (VPA), suberanilohydroxamic acid (SAHA), abacavir (ABC), all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and resveratrol (RES) alone or combined with 5-aza-dC and/or IR. Effects of combinatorial treatments on neurogenesis were evaluated in cultured murine hippocampal slices from transgenic nestin-CFPnuc C57BL/J6 mice. Life imaging of nestin-positive neural stem cells was conducted at distinct time points for up to 28 days after treatment start. Results: All tested drugs showed a radiosynergistic action on overall clonogenic survival at least in two-outof-three MB cell lines. This effect was pronounced in multimodal treatments combining IR, 5-aza-dC and a second drug. Hereby, ABC and RES induced the strongest reduction of clongenic survival in all three MB cell lines and led to the induction of apoptosis (RES, ABC) and/or autophagy (ABC). Additionally, 5-aza-dC, RES, and ABC increased the S phase cell fraction and induced the formation of gH2AX foci at least in oneout-of-three cell lines. Thereby, the multimodal treatment with 5-aza-dC, IR, and RES or ABC did not change the number of normal neural progenitor cells in murine slice cultures. Conclusions: In conclusion, the radiosensitizing capacities of epigenetic and differentiation-inducing drugs presented here suggest that their adjuvant administration might improve MB therapy. Thereby, the combination of 5-aza-dC/IR with ABC and RES seemed to be the most promising to enhance tumor control without affecting the normal neural precursor cells.

Ce travail porte sur l'étude chimique d'une souche endophyte de Botryosphaeria mamane, un micromycète relativement peu étudié, isolée des feuilles de Bixa orellana. Des travaux préliminaires portant sur le screening de 409 souches de champignons isolés à partir de plantes médicinales d'Amérique du Sud a révélé que parmi celles-ci, B. mamane E224 était l'une des souches les plus actives in vitro sur un modèle de Leishmania infantum. L'objectif de ce travail a consisté en l'induction de la production de nouveaux métabolites secondaires produits par B. mamane via l'optimisation des conditions de culture de cette souche, la mise en place de méthodes de co-cultures et l'ajout de modificateurs épigénétiques. Une analyse des métabolomes dans les différentes conditions a été réalisée à travers une approche métabolomique, utilisant un couplage UHPLC-HRMS, ainsi que grâce à différents outils statistiques. Deux grandes classes de composés ont ainsi été détectées dans les cultures axéniques de B. mamane. Premièrement, la famille des cyclopeptides, incluant les cyclodipeptides soufrés avec en particulier trois nouveaux composés, les botryosulfuranols A-C. Puis la famille des isocoumarines, avec des dérivés de la melleine (trans-4-hydroxymelleine, 4-hydroxymelleine et 5-hydroxymellein). A travers l'ajout de modificateurs épigénétiques à la culture de B. mamane, nous avons pu étudier les effets de deux inhibiteurs d'histone désacétylases (HDACis), l'acide suberoylanilidehydroxamique (SAHA) et le valproate sodique, ajoutés à deux stades différents de la culture fongique. L'ajout de HDACi dans la culture de B. mamane a entraîné des changements importants dans la production de métabolites secondaires. En effet, une induction de certains métabolites mais également une réduction et l'inactivation de la production d'autres métabolites, ont été observés, et ceci selon la nature du modificateur épigénétique ajouté. Cette étude illustre l'importance du choix des HDACis pour l'induction de la production de métabolites spécifiques. Concernant l'optimisation de la co-culture de B.[...] / This study focused on the strain of a poorly studied fungal endophyte Botryosphaeria mamane E224, isolated from Bixa orellana leaves. Our previous screening involving 409 fungal strains isolated from medicinal plants from South America revealed that among all these strains, B. mamane was shown to be the most bioactive on in vitro model against Leishmania infantum. The objectives of this work consisted in the introduction of new metabolite production by B. mamane by optimizing the fungal culture conditions, and by using co-cultivation methods and addition of epigenetic modifiers. This work was followed by an analysis of the different metabolomes via a metabolomics approach using UHPLC-HRMS and integration of informatics and statistical tools for metabolomics. Two major compound classes were detected in B. mamane. First, the cyclopeptide family including the thiodiketopiperazines (TDKPs) alkaloids with three new compounds proposed as botryosulfuranols A-C; and the isocoumarin family, with the mellein derivatives, trans-4-hydroxymellein, 4-hydroxymellein, and 5-hydroxymellein. Regarding the exploration of B. mamane metabolome cultured in the presence of epigenetic modifier, the effects of two different histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis), suberoylanilidehydroxamic acid (SAHA) and valproate sodium added in two different stages of fungal growth, were investigated. As expected, HDACis addition in the culture of B. mamane led to significant changes in the secondary metabolite production. Addition of modifier not only induced metabolites production but also reduced and may inactivate metabolite production in fungi, depending on the nature of the epigenetic modifier added. This study illustrates the importance in the choice of HDACis to fungal culture in order to induce specific metabolite productions. In the study of B. mamane and C. albicans co-cultivation in different culture conditions, we showed the influence of the conditions (static versus agitation) on the metabolome of the fungi. However, the co-culture with yeast did not induce any modification in the fungal metabolome. The investigation of fungal interactions between B. mamane, Fusarium solani, and Colletotrichum linicola in 6-multi well plates in time-series based analysis has been carried out. [...]

Background: Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common pediatric brain tumor. Current treatment regimes consisting of primary surgery followed by radio- and chemotherapy, achieve 5-year overall survival rates of only about 60 %. Therapy-induced endocrine and neurocognitive deficits are common late adverse effects. Thus, improved antitumor strategies are urgently needed. In this study, we combined irradiation (IR) together with epigenetic modifiers and differentiation inducers in a multimodal approach to enhance the efficiency of tumor therapy in MB and also assessed possible late adverse effects on neurogenesis. Methods: In three human MB cell lines (DAOY, MEB-Med8a, D283-Med) short-time survival (trypan blue exclusion assay), apoptosis, autophagy, cell cycle distribution, formation of gH2AX foci, and long-term reproductive survival (clonogenic assay) were analyzed after treatment with 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5-azadC), valproic acid (VPA), suberanilohydroxamic acid (SAHA), abacavir (ABC), all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and resveratrol (RES) alone or combined with 5-aza-dC and/or IR. Effects of combinatorial treatments on neurogenesis were evaluated in cultured murine hippocampal slices from transgenic nestin-CFPnuc C57BL/J6 mice. Life imaging of nestin-positive neural stem cells was conducted at distinct time points for up to 28 days after treatment start. Results: All tested drugs showed a radiosynergistic action on overall clonogenic survival at least in two-outof-three MB cell lines. This effect was pronounced in multimodal treatments combining IR, 5-aza-dC and a second drug. Hereby, ABC and RES induced the strongest reduction of clongenic survival in all three MB cell lines and led to the induction of apoptosis (RES, ABC) and/or autophagy (ABC). Additionally, 5-aza-dC, RES, and ABC increased the S phase cell fraction and induced the formation of gH2AX foci at least in oneout-of-three cell lines. Thereby, the multimodal treatment with 5-aza-dC, IR, and RES or ABC did not change the number of normal neural progenitor cells in murine slice cultures. Conclusions: In conclusion, the radiosensitizing capacities of epigenetic and differentiation-inducing drugs presented here suggest that their adjuvant administration might improve MB therapy. Thereby, the combination of 5-aza-dC/IR with ABC and RES seemed to be the most promising to enhance tumor control without affecting the normal neural precursor cells.