La progéria est une maladie génétique rare caractérisée par un vieillissement global, prématuré et accéléré entrainant le décès des enfants atteints aux alentours de l’âge de 13 ans. La compréhension des mécanismes moléculaires à l’origine de ce syndrome ont récemment permis de démarrer deux protocoles d’essai clinique, avec un objectif commun : ralentir la progression de la maladie en bloquant la maturation de la protéine mutée. Cependant, l’identification de nouvelles voies thérapeutiques reste encore, pour cette pathologie, un défi à relever. L’objectif de ce travail de thèse a consisté à utiliser le potentiel unique des cellules souches induites à la pluripotence (iPSCs) pour explorer les mécanismes cellulaires et moléculaires de ce syndrome, identifier de nouvelles cibles thérapeutiques et proposer des pistes innovantes de traitement.La première étape de cette thèse s’est consacrée à la dérivation et la caractérisation des lignées d’iPSCs à partir de cellules de patients atteints par ce syndrome. De manière surprenante,cette étude a mis en évidence une préservation des neurones générés à partir d’iPSCs de patients progeria. L’étude des mécanismes moléculaires à l’origine de cette protection neuronale a par la suite permis d’identifier l’implication d’un microARN, miR-9, capable de réguler l’expression de la progérine et de protéger les neurones de ce vieillissement accéléré. La seconde partie de ces travaux de thèse s’est attachée à explorer le potentiel de ces cellules pour étudier l’efficacité des composés proposés aux patients dans le cadre des différents essais cliniques réalisés ces dernières années. Bien que l’ensemble des molécules testées améliore de façon significative les défauts de structuration de l’enveloppe nucléaire, nos travaux soulignent un certain nombre de différences fonctionnelles tant au niveau de leurs effets sur la prolifération cellulaire que sur la différentiation ostéogénique ou encore le métabolisme énergétique. Enfin, sur la base de ce travail de modélisation pathologique, la dernière partie de ce projet de thèse a eu pour objectif de développer et réaliser un criblage à haut contenu de plus de vingt mille petites molécules pouvant réguler le processus de maturation de la prélamine A. Au cours de cette étude, onze composés à fort potentiel thérapeutique ont été identifiés, dont trois appartenant à la même famille chimique, les mono-aminopyrimidines, ouvrant de nouvelles perspectives thérapeutiques dans la progéria. / Progeria is a rare genetic disease characterized by a global, premature and accelerated aging, leading to patient death at average 13 years old. The understanding of the molecular mechanism of this syndrome has recently opened the possibility to start two clinical trials, with one common objective: slow down the disease progression blocking the maturation of the mutated protein. However, the identification of new therapeutic pathway is still a challenge to rise for this pathology. The objective of this PhD thesis has consisted to use the unique potential of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to explore cellular and molecular mechanisms of this syndrome, identify new therapautical target and propose innovative trails of treatment. The first step of this thesis was focused on the derivation and the characterization of the iPSCs lines from patient's cells affected by this syndrome. In a surprising manner, this study has highlighted a preservation of neurons generated from progeria patients. The study of the molecular mechanisms led to the identification of the microRNA miR-9 involvement. This latter regulates progerin expression, protecting neurons from accelerated aging. The second part of this work has endeavored to explore the potential of progeria iPSCs to study the efficiency of chemical compounds proposed to patients in the different clinical trials realized these last years. Although the set of tested molecules significantly improved nuclear architecture, differences in proliferation or in osteogenic differentiation or in metabolic energetic have been detected. Finally, on the basis of this pathological modeling work, the last part of this thesis praject was to develop and realize a high content screening of more than twenty thousand small molecules to select drugs which block the maturation process of prelamin A. Eleven molecules with a high therapeutical potential have been identified, with three belonging to the same chemical family, the mono-aminopyrimidins, opening new therapeutical perspectives in progeria.

Freiburg (Breisgau), Universiẗat, Diss., 2001.

O câncer de ovário é a quinta maior causa de óbitos relacionados ao câncer em mulheres em todo o mundo, com pacientes tendo taxas de sobrevivência extremamente baixas. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) são RNAs não codificadores em torno de 22 ribonucleotídeos que desempenham um papel crítico na regulação da expressão gênica em praticamente todos os processos biológicos. Os miRNAs induzem o silenciamento de seus alvos através da repressão de tradução ou clivagem de mRNA. Neste trabalho verificamos que o miR-450a e o miR-450b-5p, dois miRNAs pouco explorados em tumores ginecológicos, foram regulados de forma negativa no câncer de ovário e nas linhagens de câncer de colo do útero. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a hipótese de que tanto o miR-450a como o miR- 450b-5p atuam como supressores tumorais em cânceres de tecido reprodutivo. Para testar esta hipótese, utilizamos ensaios in vitro e um modelo xenográfico in vivo. Usando um vetor de expressão lentiviral, miR-450a e miR-450b-5p foram superexpressos de forma estável nas linhagens A2780, OVCAR-3 e SKOV-3 (linhagens tumorais de ovário) e C33 e SiHa (linhagens tumorais de câncer cervical). A taxa de anoikis foi analisada nas células submetidas a placas de baixa aderência durante 24 horas: a superexpressão de miR-450a resultou em menor viabilidade nas linhagens SiHa, OVCAR-3, A2780 e SKOV-3. Em relação à proliferação celular, as células A2780 que superexpressam o miR-450a proliferaram a uma taxa maior em comparação com as células controle. No entanto, no ensaio clonogênico essas células apresentaram menor número de colônias que eram visivelmente maiores. Por outro lado, o miR-450b diminuiu a taxa de proliferação na linhagem SKOV-3, o que foi corroborado no ensaio clonogênico. Também foram medidas as taxas de migração e invasão celular usando ensaio transwell. A superexpressão de miR-450a ou miR-450b-5p resultou em maior potencial de migração da linha celular C33, mas menor taxa de migração e invasão nas linhagens A2780 e SKOV3. Na linhagem OVCAR-3, a superexpressão do miR-450a aumentou o número de células capazes de invadir, já o miR-450b-5p induziu uma maior taxa de migração. A superexpressão do miR-450b-5p na linhagem SiHa resultou em menor potencial de invasão em comparação com o grupo controle correspondente. Após estes ensaios in vitro, decidimos continuar nossa análise apenas com células A2780 e SKOV-3, que apresentaram um padrão mais parecido nos ensaios. No ensaio in vivo, as células A2780 transduzidas foram injetadas intraperitonealmente em camundongos imunodeficientes de 9-11 semanas e, após 4 semanas, o peso de tumores recuperados foi comparado. Neste modelo xenográfico de câncer de ovário, verificamos que ambos os miRNAs diminuíram o crescimento tumoral, o que corrobora nossos ensaios in vitro. Também verificamos que a maioria dos alvos diretos encontrados por meio do método do PAR-CLIP e aqui validados do miR-450a estão relacionados ao metabolismo energético nas mitocôndrias (TIMMDC1, ACO2, ATP5B), além dos genes PAPSS1, CITED2, MAML1 e VIM, o marcador canônico do processo de EMT. O alvo direto para miR-450b, ME1, também está relacionado ao metabolismo energético. Até o momento, nossa análise verificou que o miRNAs miR- 450a e miR-450b-5p são comprovadamente relevantes para o processo tumorigênico de tumores epiteliais de ovário e agem como supressores tumorais principalmente pela regulação de genes que atuam no metabolismo energético. / Ovary cancer is the fifth largest cause of cancer-related deaths for women worldwide, with patients presenting extremely low 5-year survival rates. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), non-coding RNAs around 22 ribonucleotides long, play a critical role in gene expression regulation in virtually all biological processes. miRNAs induce gene silencing of their targets through translation repression or mRNA cleavage. We showed that miR-450a and miR-450b-5p, two functionally underexplored miRNAs in gynecologic tumors, were downregulated in ovarian cancer and cervical cancer cell lines. The aim of this work was to verify the hypothesis that both miR-450a and miR- 450b-5p display tumor suppressor functions in reproductive tissue cancers. For this purpose, we utilized in vitro assays and an in vivo xenographic model. Using a lentiviral expression vector, miR-450a and miR-450b-5p were stably overexpressed in A2780, OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3 (ovarian cancer cell lines) and C33 and SiHA (cervical cancer cell lines). The anoikis rate was analyzed in those cells submitted to low adherence plates for 24 hours: miR-450a overexpression resulted in lower viability in SiHa, OVCAR-3, A2780 and SKOV-3 cells. Regarding to cell proliferation, A2780 cells overexpressing miR-450a proliferated at higher rate compared to the control counterpart. However, these cells presented fewer but noticeable larger colonies at the clonogenic assay. On the other hand, miR-450b decreased the proliferation rate in SKOV-3, what was corroborated in the clonogenic assay, wherein the number of colonies were reduced at the same cell line. We also measured cell migration and invasion rates using transwell assays. Overexpression of miR-450a or miR-450b-5p resulted in higher migration potential of C33 cell line but lower migration and invasion rates in A2780 and SKOV3 cell lines. In OVCAR-3 cell line, miR-450a overexpression caused an increase in number of invaded cells and miR-450b-5p overexpressed cells migrated in higher number than control group. The overexpression of miR-450b-5p in SiHa cell line resulted in lower invasion potential compared to correspondent control group. After these in vitro experiments, we decided to continue our analysis only with A2780 and SKOV-3 cells, which had the most similar pattern. In the in vivo assay, transduced A2780 cells were injected intraperitoneally in 9-11 weeks immunodeficient mice and the weight of dissected tumors were compared after 4 weeks. In this in vivo xenographic model of ovarian cancer, we verified that both miRNAs impaired tumor growth, which corroborates our in vitro assays. We also verified that most of the direct targets found through PARCLIP technique validated in this work for miR-450a are related to energetic metabolism in mitochondria (TIMMDC1, ACO2, ATP5B) besides PAPSS1, CITED2, MAML1 and VIM, the canonical marker of EMT. The direct target for miR-450b, ME1, is also related to energetic metabolism. To date, our analysis points to the scenario of miR-450a and miR-450b-5p playing functions like tumor suppressors proven to be relevant to the tumorigenic process of ovarian epithelial tumors. Additionally, they do that mostly by regulating genes responsible by the energetic metabolism.

1 / Fatma Aboulnasr

Lung cancer is the common cause of cancer death. STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) has been reported to be an oncogenic transcription factor and high expression of STAT3 is associated with lung cancer progression. RECK (reversion-inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs) is a tumor suppressor gene and a membrane-anchored glycoprotein that reduces the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)-induced destruction of extra-cellular matrix (ECM) and tumor metastasis. RECK also inhibits tumor angiogenesis. We have previously elucidated the transcriptional regulation of RECK gene. Recently, microRNAs (miRs) are shown to be key players in gene regulation and cancer progression. In this study, we try to elucidate whether ovexpression of STAT3 can affect microRNA expression to regulate RECK via post-transcriptional modulation. miR-17-92a cluster is a well-known oncomir which is highly expressed in lung cancer tissue. We find that miR-92a, a member of miR-17-92a cluster can target RECK 3¡¦UTR. In addition, our data suggest that STAT3 regulates the expression of miR-92a and inhibition of STAT3 can decrease miR-92a expression. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-92a can decrease RECK protein level. While knockdown of miR-92a expression in STAT3-overexpressing cell lines can restore RECK protein level, and reduce invasion and migration. Results of this study suggest that STAT3 up-regulates miR-92a to inhibit RECK expression and promote lung cancer metastasis.

Cutaneous melanoma is an increasingly common aggressive malignancy. The molecular mechanisms responsible for melanoma’s initiation and progression are still unclear, but new evidence suggests microRNAs (miRNAs) may be involved. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that have been shown to act as either oncogenes or tumour suppressors. These short, ~22 nucleotide long, single stranded RNA molecules regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally, through complementary binding to target messenger RNA (mRNA), and mediate mRNA degradation and translational repression. Our laboratory has previously shown that miRNA expression levels are altered through the different stages of melanoma tumourigenesis and has identified numerous significantly dysregulated miRNAs. miR-205 expression is significantly decreased in both primary and metastatic melanoma. Because of this decrease in miR-205 level with increasing cancer aggressiveness, we originally hypothesized that miR-205 may act as a tumour suppressor in melanoma. Unexpectedly, miR-205 re-expression in metastatic melanoma cells has shown oncogenetic potential. Through functional assays, we determined that miR-205 plays a primary role in promoting cellular migration and invasion, and in repressing adhesion. A gene expression analysis was conducted and the target prediction algorithm TargetScan was utilized to determine potential mRNA targets for miR-205. CADM1, PTPRJ and SHIP2 were three of the targets investigated, because of their known functional role in migration and cellular adhesion. CADM1 and PTPRJ were both verified to be directly targeted by miR-205 in an in vitro melanoma system using a luciferase reporter assay. In summary, we have demonstrated a surprising functional role for miR-205 in melanoma. The re-expression of miR-205 promotes malignant phenotypes and therefore is functioning with oncogenic potential within our metastatic melanoma cell culture system. / Thesis (Master, Pathology & Molecular Medicine) -- Queen's University, 2012-07-09 12:32:35.235

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), a positive-sense RNA virus that chronically infects between 2.7 and 3.9 million Americans, is highly mutational, making the HCV infection difficult to treat. Thus, it is of high interest to search for highly conserved therapeutic targets within the HCV genome. Two such sequences are located within the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of HCV, being complementary for the microRNA miR-122, a liver microRNA essential for the production of the infectious virus. The use of peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) as therapeutic agents has become a promising area of study in recent years. In this study, we characterized the interactions between miR-122 and the HCV 5'UTR and designed PNAs to disrupt these interactions and thus, inhibit RNA replication and translation. Our results show that the PNAs effectively disrupt the interactions involving miR-122 and the 5'UTR, thereby increasing the possibility of a new therapeutic option against HCV. / Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences / Chemistry and Biochemistry / MS / Thesis

University, Diss., 2001--München.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Kashmir, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-255).

O câncer de ovário é a quinta maior causa de óbitos relacionados ao câncer em mulheres em todo o mundo, com pacientes tendo taxas de sobrevivência extremamente baixas. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) são RNAs não codificadores em torno de 22 ribonucleotídeos que desempenham um papel crítico na regulação da expressão gênica em praticamente todos os processos biológicos. Os miRNAs induzem o silenciamento de seus alvos através da repressão de tradução ou clivagem de mRNA. Neste trabalho verificamos que o miR-450a e o miR-450b-5p, dois miRNAs pouco explorados em tumores ginecológicos, foram regulados de forma negativa no câncer de ovário e nas linhagens de câncer de colo do útero. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a hipótese de que tanto o miR-450a como o miR- 450b-5p atuam como supressores tumorais em cânceres de tecido reprodutivo. Para testar esta hipótese, utilizamos ensaios in vitro e um modelo xenográfico in vivo. Usando um vetor de expressão lentiviral, miR-450a e miR-450b-5p foram superexpressos de forma estável nas linhagens A2780, OVCAR-3 e SKOV-3 (linhagens tumorais de ovário) e C33 e SiHa (linhagens tumorais de câncer cervical). A taxa de anoikis foi analisada nas células submetidas a placas de baixa aderência durante 24 horas: a superexpressão de miR-450a resultou em menor viabilidade nas linhagens SiHa, OVCAR-3, A2780 e SKOV-3. Em relação à proliferação celular, as células A2780 que superexpressam o miR-450a proliferaram a uma taxa maior em comparação com as células controle. No entanto, no ensaio clonogênico essas células apresentaram menor número de colônias que eram visivelmente maiores. Por outro lado, o miR-450b diminuiu a taxa de proliferação na linhagem SKOV-3, o que foi corroborado no ensaio clonogênico. Também foram medidas as taxas de migração e invasão celular usando ensaio transwell. A superexpressão de miR-450a ou miR-450b-5p resultou em maior potencial de migração da linha celular C33, mas menor taxa de migração e invasão nas linhagens A2780 e SKOV3. Na linhagem OVCAR-3, a superexpressão do miR-450a aumentou o número de células capazes de invadir, já o miR-450b-5p induziu uma maior taxa de migração. A superexpressão do miR-450b-5p na linhagem SiHa resultou em menor potencial de invasão em comparação com o grupo controle correspondente. Após estes ensaios in vitro, decidimos continuar nossa análise apenas com células A2780 e SKOV-3, que apresentaram um padrão mais parecido nos ensaios. No ensaio in vivo, as células A2780 transduzidas foram injetadas intraperitonealmente em camundongos imunodeficientes de 9-11 semanas e, após 4 semanas, o peso de tumores recuperados foi comparado. Neste modelo xenográfico de câncer de ovário, verificamos que ambos os miRNAs diminuíram o crescimento tumoral, o que corrobora nossos ensaios in vitro. Também verificamos que a maioria dos alvos diretos encontrados por meio do método do PAR-CLIP e aqui validados do miR-450a estão relacionados ao metabolismo energético nas mitocôndrias (TIMMDC1, ACO2, ATP5B), além dos genes PAPSS1, CITED2, MAML1 e VIM, o marcador canônico do processo de EMT. O alvo direto para miR-450b, ME1, também está relacionado ao metabolismo energético. Até o momento, nossa análise verificou que o miRNAs miR- 450a e miR-450b-5p são comprovadamente relevantes para o processo tumorigênico de tumores epiteliais de ovário e agem como supressores tumorais principalmente pela regulação de genes que atuam no metabolismo energético. / Ovary cancer is the fifth largest cause of cancer-related deaths for women worldwide, with patients presenting extremely low 5-year survival rates. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), non-coding RNAs around 22 ribonucleotides long, play a critical role in gene expression regulation in virtually all biological processes. miRNAs induce gene silencing of their targets through translation repression or mRNA cleavage. We showed that miR-450a and miR-450b-5p, two functionally underexplored miRNAs in gynecologic tumors, were downregulated in ovarian cancer and cervical cancer cell lines. The aim of this work was to verify the hypothesis that both miR-450a and miR- 450b-5p display tumor suppressor functions in reproductive tissue cancers. For this purpose, we utilized in vitro assays and an in vivo xenographic model. Using a lentiviral expression vector, miR-450a and miR-450b-5p were stably overexpressed in A2780, OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3 (ovarian cancer cell lines) and C33 and SiHA (cervical cancer cell lines). The anoikis rate was analyzed in those cells submitted to low adherence plates for 24 hours: miR-450a overexpression resulted in lower viability in SiHa, OVCAR-3, A2780 and SKOV-3 cells. Regarding to cell proliferation, A2780 cells overexpressing miR-450a proliferated at higher rate compared to the control counterpart. However, these cells presented fewer but noticeable larger colonies at the clonogenic assay. On the other hand, miR-450b decreased the proliferation rate in SKOV-3, what was corroborated in the clonogenic assay, wherein the number of colonies were reduced at the same cell line. We also measured cell migration and invasion rates using transwell assays. Overexpression of miR-450a or miR-450b-5p resulted in higher migration potential of C33 cell line but lower migration and invasion rates in A2780 and SKOV3 cell lines. In OVCAR-3 cell line, miR-450a overexpression caused an increase in number of invaded cells and miR-450b-5p overexpressed cells migrated in higher number than control group. The overexpression of miR-450b-5p in SiHa cell line resulted in lower invasion potential compared to correspondent control group. After these in vitro experiments, we decided to continue our analysis only with A2780 and SKOV-3 cells, which had the most similar pattern. In the in vivo assay, transduced A2780 cells were injected intraperitoneally in 9-11 weeks immunodeficient mice and the weight of dissected tumors were compared after 4 weeks. In this in vivo xenographic model of ovarian cancer, we verified that both miRNAs impaired tumor growth, which corroborates our in vitro assays. We also verified that most of the direct targets found through PARCLIP technique validated in this work for miR-450a are related to energetic metabolism in mitochondria (TIMMDC1, ACO2, ATP5B) besides PAPSS1, CITED2, MAML1 and VIM, the canonical marker of EMT. The direct target for miR-450b, ME1, is also related to energetic metabolism. To date, our analysis points to the scenario of miR-450a and miR-450b-5p playing functions like tumor suppressors proven to be relevant to the tumorigenic process of ovarian epithelial tumors. Additionally, they do that mostly by regulating genes responsible by the energetic metabolism.