L’interleukine-4, cytokine clef du système immunitaire, est l’une des composantesprincipales de la réponse humorale. Un variant d’épissage de l’IL-4 humaine, nommé IL-4δ2est caractérisé par une délétion de l’exon 2. L’expression d’isoformes de cytokines peut êtrespécifique d’un tissu, d’un stimulus ou d’un état pathologique. Un intérêt particulier leur estaccordé car leur présence ou leur niveau d’expression peut en faire des biomarqueurspotentiels de certains stades pathologiques. Ainsi, ce projet a été consacré à l’étude del’expression et de la fonctionnalité de l’IL-4δ2 dans le but de mieux caractériser son rôle ausein de la réponse immunitaire.Une étude cinétique des niveaux d’expression de l’interleukine-4 et de son variant,réalisée chez des donneurs sains, montre une expression de ces deux variants dépendante dudonneur. L’étude a été poursuivie pour déterminer le type cellulaire capable de produire l’IL-4δ2. Ainsi, l’IL-4δ2 ne semble pas être exprimée par les cellules CD4+ et CD8+ à l’inversedes granulocytes.La fonction agoniste ou antagoniste à l’IL-4, de l’isoforme δ2, sujette à controverse, ajustifié une exploration de sa fonctionnalité. Nous avons ainsi évalué la capacité de l’IL-4δ2 àactiver les voies de signalisation de l’IL-4. Une absence d’activation de mécanismescellulaires similaires à l’IL-4 nous suggère un potentiel rôle inhibiteur de ce variant.Au cours du travail sur l’IL-4δ2, un nouveau variant d’épissage de l’IL-4 a étédécouvert chez l’homme. Par épissage alternatif, un nouvel exon est retenu dans l’ARNm dece variant. L’étude de celui-ci nous a permis de proposer, pour cet ARNm, une dégradationpar le mécanisme de Nonsens-Mediated Decay (NMD). Cette découverte apporte un niveausupplémentaire dans la compréhension du système de régulation de l’IL-4.Ce sujet d’étude apporte de nouveaux éléments quant à l’expression et la fonction del’IL-4δ2. De plus, l’identification d’un nouveau variant d’épissage enrichit la connaissancesur la régulation de l’expression du gène de l’Il4. D’une façon générale, la prise en comptedes variants d’épissage des cytokines devrait permettre de mieux caractériser la réponseimmunitaire, essentielle dans un contexte de vaccinologie. / Interleukin-4 (IL-4) is a key cytokine driving the humoral component of the immunesystem. An alternative splice variant of human IL-4, deleted of the second exon and so calledIL-4δ2 has been described. The expression of alternative splice variants is known to be tissuespecific,dependent of a particular stimulus or a pathological state. Their potential asbiomarkers is of increasing interest. Thus, this project was dedicated to the functionality ofIL-4δ2, improving characterization of the immune response.A kinetic study on the expression levels of IL-4 and its spliced variant, conducted onhealthy donors has shown to be donor-specific. The determination of the cell type able toproduce IL-4δ2 indicated that, CD4+ and CD8+ cells were not expressing the isoform, incontrast to granulocytes.The controversial agonist or antagonist function of IL-4δ2 was discussed throughfunctionality. The ability of IL-4δ2 to induce the signaling pathways of IL-4 was evaluated.An absence of similar profile of activation to IL-4 suggests a potential inhibitory role of IL-4δ2.During the study on IL-4δ2, a new alternatively spliced variant of IL-4 was discoveredin humans. Upon splicing, a new exon is retained in this variant. Its functional outcome as asubstrate for Nonsens-Mediated Decay (NMD) allowed bringing a new insight in thecomprehension of IL-4 regulatory system.Our work brought novel elements in the expression and functionality of IL-4δ2.Moreover, the discovery of a new alternatively spliced variant enriched the knowledge on theregulation pathways of Il4 gene expression. A focus on alternatively spliced variants ofcytokines is likely to clarify the complex regulation of the immune system.

This master´s thesis deals with of human factor impact on optical fibers manipulation. It describes types and methods used for splicing and placing optical fibers and optical cables. These methods are specified in the chapters; their application in different environments and conditions is accentuated. This paper presents splicing optical fibers. It emphasizes problems which can occur if proper procedures aren´t kept or if improper device is used. In the thesis there is the chapter dealing with problems which can arise during splicing optical fibers - these negative influences are evaluated with educational equipments EF-970-01 PLASTIC by the company MIKROKOM, s.r.o. Another aim of the work is to describe mechanical optical fiber splice 3MTM FibrlokTM. This kind of device was lent for testing optical fibers multiple splicing. It was tested under extreme conditions. Statistically processed values of insertion loss and splice reflectance, measured by OTDR are the results of the test. Comparing measured values, technical report ones, regarding for usage in practice, there is a possibility of 75 multiple reusing of the mechanical optical fiber splice. The prediction of magnitude insertion loss, calculated for thousands splice cycles follows. The next part of the work deals with fusion splices and contains comparison of splices made with two cleavers: CORNING LWL-TRENNGERAT S46999-M9-D12 and the later model - Fitel S325A cleaver. The result is that older S46999-M9-D12 model gained lower attenuation. The results of both previous measurements are influenced by human factor. It appears at mechanical optical fiber splices as growing fluctuate of insertion losses and as the unequal attenuation fusion splices at tested cleavers.

Eukaryotic cells exhibit an extensive transcriptional diversity. Only about a quarter of the total RNA in the human cell can be accounted for by messenger RNA (mRNA), which convey genetic code for protein generation. The remaining part of the transcriptome consists of rather heterogenous molecules. While some classes are well defined and have been shown to carry out distinct functions, ranging from housekeeping to complex regulatory tasks, a big fraction of the transcriptional output is categorized solely based on the lack of protein-coding capacity and transcript length. Several studies have shown, that as a group, mRNA-like long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), are under stabilizing selection, however at much weaker levels than mRNAs. The conservation at the level of primary sequence is even lower, blurring the contrast between exonic and intronics parts, which impedes traditional methods of genome-wide homology search. As a consequence their evolutionary history is a fairly unexplored field and apart from a few experimentally studied cases, the vast majority of them is reported to be poorly conserved. However, the pervasive transcription and the highly spatio-temporal specific expression patterns of lncRNAs suggests their functional importance and makes their evolutionary age and conservation patterns a topic of interest. By employing diverse computational methods, recent studies shed light on the common conservation of lncRNA’s secondary and gene structures, highlighting the significance of structural features on functionality. Splice sites, in particular, are frequently retained over very large evolutionary time scales, as they maintain the intron-exon-structure of the transcript. Consequently, the conservation of splice sites can be utilized in a comparative genomics approach to establish homology and predict evolutionarily well-conserved transcripts, regardless of their coding capacity. Since splice site conservation cannot be directly inferred from experimental evidence, in the course of this thesis a computational pipeline was established to generate comparative maps of splice sites based on multiple sequence alignments together with transcriptomics data. Scoring schemes for splice site motifs are employed to assess the conservation of orthologs. This resource can then be used to systemically study the conservation patterns of RNAs and their gene structures. This thesis will demonstrate the versatility of this method by showcasing biological applications of three distinct studies. First, a comprehensive annotation of the human transcriptome, from RefSeq, ESTs and GENCODE, was used to trace the evolution of human lncRNAs. A large majority of human lncRNAs is found to be conserved across Eutheria, and many hundreds originated before the divergence of marsupials and placental mammals. However, they exhibit a rapid turnover of their transcript structures, indicating that they are actual ancient components of the vertebrate genome with outstanding evolutionary plasticity. Additionally, a public web server was setup, which allows the user to retrieve sets of orthologous splice sites from pre-computed comparative splice site maps and inspect visualizations of their conservation in the respective species. Second, a more specific data set of non-colinearly spliced latimerian RNAs is studied to fathom the origins of atypical transcripts. RNA-seq data from two coelacanth species are analyzed, yielding thousands of circular and trans-spliced products, with a surprising exclusivity of the majority of their splice junctions to atypically spliced forms, that is they are not used in linear isoforms. The conservation analysis with comparative splice site maps yielded high conservation levels for both cir- cularizing and trans-connecting splice sites. This fact in combination with their abundance strongly suggests that atypical RNAs are evolutionarily old and of functional importance. Lastly, comparative splice site maps are used to investigate the role of lncRNAs in the evolution of the Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The human specificity of AD clearly points out a phylogenetic aspect of the disease, which makes the evolutionary analysis a very promising field of research. Protein- coding and non-protein-coding regions, that have been identified to be differentially expressed in AD patients, are analyzed for conservation of their splice site and evolution of their exon-intron-structure. Both non-coding and protein-coding AD-associated genes are shown to have evolved more rapidly in their gene structure than the genome at large. This supports the view of AD as a consequence of the recent rapid adaptive evolution of the human brain. This phylogenetic trait might have far reaching consequences with respect to the appropriateness of animal models and the development of disease-modifying strategies. / Eukaryotische Zellen legen eine umfangreiche transkriptionelle Vielfalt an den Tag. Nur etwa ein Viertel der in der menschlichen Zelle enthaltenen RNA ist messenger RNA (mRNA), welche den genetischen Code für die Proteingenerierung übermittelt. Der verbleibende Anteil des Transkriptoms besteht aus eher heterogenen Molekülen. Während einigen wohldefinierten Klassen spezifische Funktionen zugeordnet werden können, welche von Zellhaushalt bis zu komplexen regulatorischen Aufgaben reichen, wird ein großer Teil der transkriptionellen Produktion ausschließlich auf Grundlage der fehlenden Kodierungskapazität und der Transkriptlänge kategorisiert. Einige Studien zeigten, dass mRNA-ähnliche lange nicht-kodierende RNA (lncRNA) als Gruppe unter stabilisierender Selektion stehen, wenn auch in einem weitaus geringeren Ausmaß als mRNAs. Die Konservierung auf Ebene der primären Sequenz ist sogar noch niedriger, wodurch der Kontrast zwischen exonischen und intronischen Elementen verschwimmt und Methoden der traditionellen Homologiesuche erschwert werden. Infolgedessen ist die evolutionäre Geschichte der lncRNAs ein recht unerforschtes Gebiet und abgesehen von ein paar vereinzelten Fallstudien wird die große Mehrheit als schwach konserviert vermeldet. Die tiefgreifende Transkription und die in Raum und Zeit hochspezifischen Expressionsmuster von lncRNA deuten jedoch auf deren funktionelle Bedeutung hin und machen ihr evolutionäres Alter und ihre Konservierungsmuster zu einem Thema von Interesse. Durch die Verwendung von computergestützten Methoden konnten jüngste Studien die verbreitete Konservierung von Sekundär- und Genstruktur von lncRNAs aufzeigen, was die Signifikanz von strukturellen Merkmalen in Bezug auf deren Funktionalität unterstreicht. Spleißstellen im besonderen werden oft über lange evolutionäre Zeitspannen erhalten, da sie die Intron-Exon-Struktur des Transkripts bewahren. Folglich, kann die Konservierung von Spleißstellen durch einen Ansatz der vergleichenden Genomik benutzt werden, um Homologie herzuleiten und evolutionär gut konservierte Transkripte unabhängig von deren Kodierungskapazität zu prognostizieren. Da es nicht möglich ist die Spleißstellenkonservierung direkt anhand von experimentellen Indikatoren abzulesen, wurde im Zuge dieser These eine computergestützte Methode entwickelt, welche, basierend auf multiplen Sequenzalignments und Transkriptomikdaten, “Vergleichskarten” von Spleißstellen erstellt. Ein Punktebewertungssystem für Spleißstellenmotive wird benutzt um die Konservierung der Orthologen zu beurteilen. Diese Resource kann anschließend verwendet werden um systematisch die Konservierungsmuster von RNAs und deren Genstrukturen zu untersuchen. Diese Arbeit wird die Vielseitigkeit dieser Methode demonstrieren, indem die biologische Anwendung in drei verschiedenen Studien präsentiert wird. Zuerst wird eine umfassende Annotation des menschlichen Transkriptoms, basierend auf RefSeq, EST und GENCODE, benutzt, um die Evolution von humanen lncRNAs nachzuvollziehen. Es konnte festgestellt werden, dass eine große Mehrheit der menschlichen lncRNAs innerhalb der Eutheria konserviert ist und mehrere hundert bereits vor der Auseinanderentwicklung von Beuteltieren und höheren Säugetieren entstanden. Dennoch zeigen sie eine rasante Veränderung in ihren Transkriptstrukturen, welche darauf hindeutet, dass sie tatsächlich alte Bestandteile von Vertebratengenomen mit bemerkenswerter evolutionärer Formbarkeit sind. Zusätzlich wurde ein öffentlicher Webserver aufgesetzt, der dem Nutzer ermöglicht Datensätze orthologer Spleißstellen aus vorgenerierten Vergleichskarten zu extrahieren und Visualisierungen der Konservierung in den jeweiligen Spezies zu betrachten. Als zweites wird ein spezifischerer Datensatz von nicht-linear gespleißten Latimeria-RNA untersucht um die Ursprünge untypischer Transkripte zu ergründen. Die Analyse der RNA-seq Daten zweier Exemplare des Quastenflossers ergab tausende zirkulärer und Transspleiß-Produkte, wobei die Mehrheit der Spleißverbindungen eine überraschende Exklusivität für untypisch gespleißte Formen aufzeigt, d.h. diese werden nicht für lineare Isoformen genutzt. Die Konservierungsanalyse mit Spleißstellen-Vergleichskarten ergibt hohe Konservierungsniveaus sowohl für zirkulärisierende als auch für trans-verbindende Spleißstellen. Diese Tatsache in Kombination mit ihrem häufigen Vorkommen, deutet stark darauf hin, dass untypische RNAs evolutionär alt und von funktioneller Bedeutung sind. Zuletzt werden Spleißstellen-Vergleichskarten benutzt um die Rolle von lncRNAs in der Evolution der Alzheimer-Krankheit (AK) zu untersuchen. Die Spezifität der AK auf den Menschen weist klar auf einen phylogenetischen Aspekt der Krankheit hin, was deren evolutionäre Analyse zu einem vielversprechenden Forschungsgebiet macht. Proteinkodierende und nicht-proteinkodierende Regionen, bei denen eine differentielle Expression in AK-Patienten erkannt wurde, werden auf die Konservierung ihrer Spleißstellen und Evolution ihrer Exon-Intron-Strukturen hin analysiert. Es kann nachgewiesen werden, dass sich die Genstruktur von sowohl nicht-kodierenden als auch von proteinkodierenden AK-assoziierten Genen schneller entwickelt als das Genom im Allgemeinen. Das unterstützt die Auffassung, dass AK die Folge einer kürzlichen rasanten adaptiven Evolution des menschlichen Gehirns ist. Diese phylogenetische Eigenschaft könnte weitreichende Konsequenzen in Bezug auf die Angemessenheit von Tiermodellen und die Entwicklung von krankheitsmodifizierenden Strategien haben.

<p>As of 2013, the damage caused by corrosion on highway bridges has been estimated to cost approximately 14 billion dollars annually, and this cost has been increasing over the years. Corrosion is one of the natural phenomena that has been slowly deteriorating infrastructure systems across the United States. One of the most problematic types of corrosion is crevice corrosion, which is defined as the formation of rust between overlapping surfaces such as the case of a splice connection where flanges are attached by splice plates. A significant number of steel bridges in Indiana have developed crevice corrosion in splice connections. Therefore, this research focuses on the crevice corrosion, or “pack rust”, occurring in these structural elements. The application of coatings alone has not been enough to stop pack rust at these connections. In an attempt to look for approaches that can effectively mitigate this problem and maintain the designed service life of bridges, different strategies have been studied and tested. The first objective of this study is to determine the strength reduction as a function of the time of exposure to salt misting. To do this, specimens that simulate the bottom flange splice connection have been exposed to a corrosive environment for different periods of time and later tested under tension to assess the reduction in strength. The second objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of the mitigation strategies under different conditions. First, the mitigating products were initially applied before exposure to salt misting. Second, the mitigating products were applied as a repair, and in this case, the specimens corroded for a given period of time and were then repaired to evaluate any further deterioration. The assessment of the strategies’ effectiveness is based on the strength reduction and visual inspection of the specimens. The ultimate outcome of this study is a series of general guidelines to slow down crevice corrosion based on the results of the laboratory testing. </p>

Les dysferlinopathies sont des dystrophies musculaires qui se manifestent par la dystrophie musculaire des ceintures de type 2B (LGMD2B) ou la myopathie de Miyoshi (MM). Elles sont causées par des mutations dans le gène dysferline. La dysferline est une protéine membranaire exprimée dans le muscle squelettique, responsable de la réparation des microlésions du sarcolemme. L’absence d’une telle réparation de la membrane entraîne une atrophie musculaire progressive. Ce travail de thèse explore le potentiel thérapeutique d'une stratégie de modulation d'épissage pour le traitement de la LGMD2B causée par la mutation faux-sens c4022T>C dans l'exon 38 du gène dysferline. Des oligonucléotides et des petits ARN U7 délivrés par un vecteur viral de type adéno-associé ont été utilisés comme outils antisens pour induire un saut d'exon in vitro et in vivo. Ce projet de thèse étudie également la capacité de la dysferline tronquée à se localiser de façon appropriée à la membrane et ainsi la réparer. / Dysferlinopathy is a muscular dystrophy that manifests as two major phenotypes: limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2B (LGMD2B) or Miyoshi myopathy (MM). It is caused by mutations in the dysferlin gene. Dysferlin is a membrane protein expressed in skeletal muscle. It is responsible for the repair of sarcolemma microlesions produced by muscle contractions. A compromised membrane repair leads to slowly progressing muscle wasting. This thesis explores the therapeutic potential of an antisense mediated splice switching strategy in LGMD2B caused by the missense mutation c4022T>C in the exon 38 of the dysferlin gene. Antisense oligonucleotides and U7 snRNAs delivered by an adeno-associated viral vector were used as antisense tools to trigger exon skipping in vitro and in vivo. The thesis investigates also if the truncated dysferlin maintainsa proper membrane localization and its membrane repair ability.

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are transcripts that function directly as RNA molecule without ever being translated to protein. The transcriptional output of eukaryotic cells is diverse, pervasive, and multi-layered. It consists of spliced as well as unspliced transcripts of both protein-coding messenger RNAs and functional ncRNAs. However, it also contains degradable non-functional by-products and artefacts - certainly a reason why ncRNAs have long been wrongly disposed as transcriptional noise. Today, RNA-controlled regulatory processes are broadly recognized for a variety of ncRNA classes. The thermoresponsive ROSE ncRNA (repression of heat shock gene expression) is only one example of a regulatory ncRNA acting at the post-transcriptional level via conformational changes of its secondary structure. Bioinformatics helps to identify novel ncRNAs in the bulk of genomic and transcriptomic sequence data which are produced at ever increasing rates. However, ncRNA annotation is unfortunately not part of generic genome annotation pipelines. Dedicated computational searches for particular ncRNAs are veritable research projects in their own right. Despite best efforts, ncRNAs across the animal phylogeny remain to a large extent uncharted territory. This thesis describes a comprehensive collection of exploratory bioinformatic field studies designed to de novo predict ncRNA genes in a series of computational screens and in a multitude of newly sequenced genomes. Non-coding RNAs can be divided into subclasses (families) according to peculiar functional, structural, or compositional similarities. A simple but eligible and frequently applied criterion to classify RNA species is length. In line, the thesis is structured into two parts: We present a series of pilot-studies investigating (1) the short and (2) the long ncRNA repertoire of several model species by means of state-of-the-art bioinformatic techniques. In the first part of the thesis, we focus on the detection of short ncRNAs exhibiting thermodynamically stable and evolutionary conserved secondary structures. We provide evidence for the presence of short structured ncRNAs in a variety of different species, ranging from bacteria to insects and higher eukaryotes. In particular, we highlight drawbacks and opportunities of RNAz-based ncRNA prediction at several hitherto scarcely investigated scenarios, as for example ncRNA prediction in the light of whole genome duplications. A recent microarray study provides experimental evidence for our approach. Differential expression of at least one-sixth of our drosophilid RNAz predictions has been reported. Beyond the means of RNAz, we moreover manually compile sophisticated annotation of short ncRNAs in schistosomes. Obviously, accumulating knowledge about the genetic material of malaria causing parasites which infect millions of humans world-wide is of utmost scientific interest. Since the performance of any comparative genomics approach is limited by the quality of its input alignments, we introduce a novel light-weight and performant genome-wide alignment approach: NcDNAlign. Although the tool is optimized for speed rather than sensitivity and requires only a minor fraction of CPU time compared to existing programs, we demonstrate that it is basically as sensitive and specific as competing approaches when applied to genome-wide ncRNA gene finding and analysis of ultra-conserved regions. By design, however, prediction approaches that search for regions with an excess of mutations that maintain secondary structure motifs will miss ncRNAs that are unstructured or whose structure is not well conserved in evolution. In the second part of the thesis, we therefore overcome secondary structure prediction and, based on splice site detection, develop novel strategies specifically designed to identify long ncRNAs in genomic sequences - probably the open problem in current RNA research. We perform splice site anchored gene-finding in drosophilids, nematodes, and vertebrate genomes and, at least for a subset of obtained candidate genes, provide experimental evidence for expression and the existence of novel spliced transcripts undoubtedly confirming our approach. In summary, we found evidence for a large number of previously undescribed RNAs which consolidates the idea of non-coding RNAs as an abundant class of regulatory active transcripts. Certainly, ncRNA prediction is a complex task. This thesis, however, rationally advises how to unveil the RNA complement of newly sequenced genomes. Since our results have already established both subsequent computational as well as experimental studies, we believe to have enduringly stimulated the field of RNA research and to have contributed to an enriched view on the subject.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Carboxylesterases (CES) are enzymes that metabolize a wide variety of compounds including esters, thioesters, carbamates, and amides. In humans there are three known carboxylesterase genes CES1, CES2, and CES3. Irinotecan (CPT-11) and capecitabine are important chemotherapeutic prodrugs that are used for the treatment of colorectal cancer. Of the three CES isoenzymes, CES2 has the highest catalytic efficiency for irinotecan activation. There is large inter-individual variation in response to treatment with irinotecan. Life-threatening late-onset diarrhea has been reported in approximately 13% of patients receiving irinotecan. Several studies have reported single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for the CES2 gene. However, there has been no consensus on the effect of different CES2 SNPs and their relationship to CES2 RNA expression or irinotecan hydrolase activity. Three CES2 mRNA transcripts of approximately 2kb,3kb, and 4kb have been identified by multi-tissue northern analysis. The expressed sequence tag (EST) database indicates that CES2 undergoes several splicing events that could generate up to six potential proteins. Four of the proteins CES2, CES2458-473, CES2+64, CES21-93 were studied to characterize their expression and activity. Multi-tissue northern analysis revealed that CES2+64 corresponds to the 4kb and 3kb transcripts while CES21-93 is located only in the 4 kb transcript. CES2458-473 is an inactive splice variant that accounts for approximately 6% of the CES2 transcripts in normal and tumor colon tissue. There is large inter-individual variation in CES2 expression in both tumor and normal colon samples. Characterization of CES2+64 identified the protein as normal CES2 indicating that the signal peptide is recognized in spite of the additional 64 amino acids at the N-terminus. Sub-cellular localization studies revealed that CES2 and CES2+64 localize to the ER, and CES21-93 localizes to the cytoplasm. To date CES2 SNP data has not provided any explanation for the high inter-individual variability in response to irinotecan treatment. Multi-tissue northern blots indicate that CES2 is expressed in a tissue specific manner. We have identified the CES2 variants which correspond to each mRNA transcript. This information will be critical to defining the role of CES2 variants in the different tissues.

No description available.

The primary reinforcement used for construction of structural concrete members has a yield strength of 60 ksi. This reinforcement grade was incorporated into construction over 50 years ago and remains the standard. Recent advances in material technology have led to the development of commercially available reinforcing steel with yield strengths of 100 ksi. While greater yield strengths can be utilized in design, it is essential that the bars can be properly anchored and spliced to fully develop their strength. Although design expressions are available for this purpose, they were established considering 60 ksi reinforcement. Therefore, the objective of this research program is to evaluate the development of high-strength reinforcing steel and establish a design expression for the development and splicing of this steel. Two phases of experimental tests were conducted. Phase I was performed by Glucksman (2018) and investigated the influence of splice length and transverse reinforcement on bond strength over four series of beam tests. This study (Phase II) was conducted following Phase I and consisted of reinforced concrete slab and beam testing over three series. An investigation was conducted on reinforcement development with a focus on the effect of splice length, concrete compressive strength, stress-strain relationships of the steel (ASTM A615 vs. ASTM A1035), and transverse reinforcement. Based on the results, the influences of test variables were identified, and a new confinement model was developed that estimates the transverse reinforcement contribution to bond strength. Finally, a design expression is provided for calculating the development and splice lengths of high-strength reinforcement.

Hodgkin und Reed-Sternberg (H/RS) Zellen sind die Tumorzellen des klassischen Hodgkin-Lymphoms (cHL) und stammen in den meisten Fällen von Keimzentrums B-Zellen, sehr selten von T-Zellen ab. Als einen zentralen Mechanismus für die zelluläre maligne Transformation und Apoptoseresistenz von H/RS Zellen konnte eine deregulierte, konstitutive Aktivität des Transkriptionsfaktors NF-kappaB (NF-kB) in H/RS Zellkernen nachgewiesen werden. Die transkriptionelle Aktivität von NF-kB wird durch spezifische Inhibitoren, IkB-alpha, IkB-beta, IkB-gamma und IkB-epsilon, reguliert. Jüngst konnte ein Defekt des IkB-alpha Gens im Primärmaterial eines Patienten mit cHL und in zwei Hodgkin Zellinien nachgewiesen werden. IkB-epsilon als ein weiterer wichtiger Regulator der NF-kB Aktivität hat in murinen Zellen eine hohe Affinität zur NF-kB Untereinheit p65, welche in H/RS Zellen insbesondere als Heterodimer p50/p65 vorkommt. In dieser Arbeit wurde das humane IkB-epsilon Gen kloniert und auf Mutationen in primären Tumorzellen untersucht. Das Primärmaterial stammte aus denselben sechs Patientenfällen, die schon zuvor auf Mutationen des IkB-alpha Gens untersucht worden waren. Das IkB-epsilon Gen liegt auf dem kurzen Arm des Chromosom 6 (6p21.1) und ist strukturell eng mit den anderen IkB Molekülen verwandt. In primären H/RS Zellen eines Patienten wurde eine homozygote Mutation an der 5´- Splicesite des Intron 1 gefunden. Diese Mutation war spezifisch für H/RS Zellen dieses Falls, und normale reaktive Lymphozyten wiesen ausschließlich den Wildtyp auf. In Zusammenschau mit den bisher identifizierten Defekten des IkB/ NF-kB Systems zeigen diese Ergebnisse, dass dysfunktionelle NF-kB Inhibitoren bei einem Teil der cHL Fälle zu einer Fehlregulation von NF-kB führen können und damit für die zelluläre Pathophysiologie von Bedeutung sind. / The pathogenesis of Hodgkin-Lymphoma (HL) is still unclear. Previous investigations have demonstrated constitutive nuclear activity of the transcription factor NF kappa B (NF-kB) in Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells as an important prerequisite in protecting these cells from apoptosis. As a molecular mechanism leading to constitutive NF-kB activity in HRS cells, mutations of the NF-kB inhibitor I kappaB-alpha have recently been identified in classical (c) HL-derived cell lines in a patient with cHL. In this work, the NF-kB inhibitor I kappaB-epsilon has been analysed for somatic mutations in the same group of six patients already studied for I kappaB-alpha mutations, as well as in cHL-derived cell lines. In the HRS cells of one patient, a hemizygous mutation affecting the 5-splicing site of intron 1 of the I kappaB-epsilon gene was found, most likely leading to misspliced mRNA products. Other work of our group showed a hemizygous frame-shift mutation of the I kappaB-epsilon gene in one cHL-derived cell line (L428), generating a pre-terminal stop codon resulting in a severely truncated protein. These results, in combination with recently described I kappaB-alpha mutations, indicate that defective NF-kB inhibitors appear more frequent than previously thought and might explain the constitutive nuclear activity of NF-kB in a significant proportion of cHL cases.