Mon laboratoire d’accueil a participé à l’identification du gène R-spondin1, dont les mutations sont responsables d’anomalies cutanées telles que l’hyperkératose palmo-plantaire, les prédispositions aux cancers spinocellulaires et certains types d’inversions de sexe. La génération du modèle murin a permis de montrer que RSPO1, un activateur de la voie de signalisation Wnt/ßcatenin, est nécessaire à la différenciation ovarienne. R-spondin1 et Sox9 sont connus comme étant des facteurs clé de la détermination du sexe femelle et mâle respectivement. J’ai tout d’abord participé à l’étude de leur fonction dans les pathologies d’inversions de sexe afin de déterminer le rôle de chacune de ces voies dans ces processus. L’étude de 2 modèles murins, d’invalidation conditionnelle du gène Sox9, ainsi que de double invalidation des gènes Sox9 et R-spondin1, a permis de montrer que la détermination du sexe est une balance entre la voie de signalisation mâle activée par les Sox et la voie de signalisation femelle activée par R-spondin1. Dans la 2ème partie de ma thèse j’ai évalué le rôle de R-spondin1 dans la physiologie de l’ovaire post-natal en étudiant un modèle murin de gain-de-fonction de R-spondin1 dans l’ovaire, puisque celui-ci est normalement faiblement exprimé au stade adulte. Cette partie de l ‘étude a démontré que le maintien de l'expression de R-spondin1 empêche les cellules nourricières de l’ovaire, les cellules de la granulosa, de se différencier, empêche l'atrésie folliculaire et favorise l’apparition de kystes sanguins après ovulation. / Our lab has contributed to the identification of the R-spondin1 (Rspo1) gene. Disruption of this gene leads to different defects such as palmoplantar hyperkeratosis, predisposition to squamous cell carcinoma and sex reversals. Establishment of the mouse model led to the result that RSPO1, which activates the WNT/ßcatenin signaling pathway, is necessary for ovarian differentiation. Rspo1 and Sox9 are known to be key factors in female and male sex determination, respectively. I first participated to the study of their role in sex reversals, in order to determine the role of each pathway in these processes. The study of 2 different mouse models (conditional knockout of Sox9 and R-spondin1/Sox9 double knockout), led us to the conclusion that sex determination is a balance between the male pathway activated by Sox genes and the female pathway activated by R-spondin1. I then evaluated the role of R-spondin1 in the adult ovary using a mouse model over expressing R-spondin1 in the ovary, as it is usually downregulated in the adult. I was able to observe that maintenance of R-spondin1 expression in the adult keeps the granulosa cell lineage from differentiating properly, prevents atresia in the ovary and may contribute to the formation of blood filled cysts following ovulation. In conclusion, our study shows that sex determination and adult ovary homeostasis need to be highly regulated. Deregulation of key genes such as R-spondin1 can lead to different pathologies, such as sex reversal and tumor formation.

The pancreas is an endodermally derived organ consisting of three major cell lineages. The endocrine cells, organised into the Islets of Langerhans, regulate blood glucose homeostasis by producing and secreting hormones such as glucagon and insulin into the bloodstream. The major part of the pancreas consists however of acinar cells that produce digestive enzymes that are transported via a highly branched ductal system to the duodenum where they function in breakdown of food. Early in pancreas development a dorsal and ventral evagination of the foregut epithelium appear, resulting in the formation of the dorsal and ventral pancreatic bud. These pancreatic buds subsequently grow, branch and differentiate to form the mature pancreas via a process controlled by intrinsic factors, such as transcription factors, and extracellular signals. Insulin promoter factor 1 (Ipf1), also known as Pdx1 (for Pancreatic duodenal homeobox gene 1), is required for pancreas development. Although the evagination of pancreatic buds still occurs in Ipf1/Pdx1 mutant mice, the subsequent proliferation, branching and differentiation is impaired, resulting in complete pancreatic agenesis. Gene array profiling identified several candidate Ipf1/Pdx1 target genes, including FgfR2IIIb, ErbB3, Ptf1a/p48, Pax6 and Nkx6.1, in pancreatic progenitor cells. Together these genes provide a mechanistic explanation for the pancreatic growth arrest observed in Ipf1/Pdx1 deficient mice. In addition, Spondin1, which has not previously been described in the pancreas, was identified to be regulated by Ipf1/Pdx1. The spatial and temporal expression pattern of Spondin1 defines Spondin1 as a marker for early pancreatic progenitor cells. The Notch signalling pathway controls cell type specification and differentiation during pancreas development. The Fringe family of proteins have previously been shown to regulate Notch signalling by altering the interaction between Notch receptors and their ligands, hence affecting the cellular response. Manic Fringe (MFng) is transiently expressed in pancreatic pro-endocrine cells between E9.5 and E14.5. The expression of MFng is regulated by Ngn3, which may suggest a role for MFng in pro-endocrine cell maturation. The lack of a pancreatic phenotype in transgenic mice overexpressing MFng in the pancreatic epithelium and in MFng null mutant mice, however, provide evidence that MFng is dispensable for the specification, differentiation and function of the adult pancreas. Inhibitors of DNA binding (Id) proteins are generally known as inhibitors of differentiation, a feature they mainly perform by forming non-functional heterodimers with bHLH proteins, thereby inhibiting downstream targets of the bHLH proteins. Id proteins also promote cell proliferation by interacting with the cell cycle machinery. In the developing pancreas Id2 and Id3 are co-expressed in an overlapping manner during the period of massive proliferation and expansion of the pancreatic epithelium, suggestive of a role for the Id proteins during these processes. In addition, Id4 expression is also detected in the embryonic pancreas, albeit at lower levels. Gain- and loss- of- function analyses suggest however that specification, differentiation and function of the adult pancreas are largely independent of Id function.

Le muscle squelettique adulte a une importante capacité à se régénérer après une lésion. La régénération musculaire dépend de divers signaux moléculaires tels que l’activation de la signalisation Wnt dans les cellules souches musculaires, appelées cellules satellites. Les protéines R-spondins (Rspo) composent une famille de quatre protéines qui ont un rôle d’activateurs/potentialisateurs sur les voies Wnt dans les cellules souches de différents tissus. Bien qu’il soit connu que ces protéines sont importantes pour la régénération de ces tissus, leur rôle dans la myogenèse régénérative n’a pas été étudié à ce jour. L’expression génique de R-spondin1 étant sur-régulée par Pax7, le marqueur des cellules satellites, nous avons émis l’hypothèse que R-spondin1 participe à la régénération musculaire. Nous avons, tout d’abord, isolé les cellules souches musculaires des modèles murins d’invalidation constitutive pour Rspo1 et avons observé qu’une déficience de R-spondin1 n’altère pas le cycle cellulaire de ces cellules. Cependant, une altération de l’expression de Rspo1 induit un défaut global de la cinétique de différenciation myogénique. Nous montrons que R-spondin1 inhibe la fusion des cellules musculaires puisque les myotubes déficients pour R-spondin1 possèdent un plus grand nombre de noyaux. Nous avons ensuite induit la régénération du muscle squelettique Tibalis Antérieur par une injection de Cardiotoxine et nous avons analysé les muscles à différents temps de régénération. Nos données prouvent qu’en l’absence de R-spondin1, les cellules souches présentent un retard de différenciation alors qu’elles possèdent une plus grande capacité de fusion, ayant pour conséquence une hypertrophie des myofibres dans le muscle. Concordant au rôle de R-spondin dans les cellules souches intestinales ou dans le follicule pileux, la protéine R-spondin1 stimule l’expression des gènes cibles de la voie Wnt canonique dans les cellules souches musculaires. Nous avons mis en évidence que R-spondin1 potentialise la voie Wnt canonique et régule négativement l’activation de la voie non-canonique dans les cellules. Nos résultats démontrent que la protéine R-spondin1 contribue à la régénération du muscle squelettique adulte par la régulation de l’activation des voies Wnt. / Adult mammalian skeletal muscles have the remarkable ability to repair after injury. Muscle regeneration depends on various cellular and molecular responses, such as activation of Wnt signaling pathways in muscle stem cells called satellite cells. R-spondin (Rspo) proteins are able to potentiate Wnt signaling pathways in vivo in many stem cells and play important role for regeneration of several tissues. The role of R-spondin in injury-induced myogenesis has not been studied. Given that R-spondin1 gene expression is up-regulated by Pax7, the satellite cell-specific transcription factor, we explored the hypothesis that R-spondin1 plays a role during skeletal muscle regeneration. We firstly isolated primary myoblasts from Rspo1 constitutive knock-out mice and observed that a depletion of Rspo1 did not alter cell cycle of these cells. However, a lack of R-spondin1 on cells resulted in global alteration of differentiation kinetics. We found that R-spondin1 inhibits muscle cell fusion, as Rspo1 knock-out myotubes contain an higher number of myonuclei. Then, we injured the Tibialis Anterior (TA) muscle of Rspo1-null mice and littermates controls by Cardiotoxin injection and analyzed muscle regeneration at different time points following injury. Our data show that R-spondin1 removal results in a delay of stem cell differenciation. In contrast, a R-spondin1 deficiency leads to better cell capacity to fuse to dommaged myofibers, giving rise to myofiber hypertrophy. As with other tissue-specific stem cells, such as hair follicle or intestinal crypt stem cells, R-spondin1 potentiates canonical Wnt signaling target genes expression in muscle stem cells. We proved that R-spondin1 potentiates canonical Wnt signaling target genes expression and negatively regulates non-canonical signaling in muscle stem cells. Our results demonstrate that R-spondin1 is crucial for adult muscle regeneration through a tighly cross-talk regulation between Wnt signalings.