No description available.

Tableau d’honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2010-2011 / La protéine de l'adénovirus humain E4orf4 (Early region 4 open reading frame 4) induit un programme de MC programmée indépendant des caspases chez les cellules transformées et cancéreuses. Des données indiquent qu'E4orf4 pourrait fournir un outil moléculaire pour obtenir des connaissances plus approfondies sur la façon de manipuler les fonctions oncogéniques afin d'induire sélectivement le suicide des cellules cancéreuses. Les travaux du laboratoire indiquent que la cytotoxicité d'E4orf4 repose sur sa capacité à perturber le trafic des endosomes de recyclage (ERs) via l'action concertée des kinases de la famille Src (KFS), de la RhoGTPase Cdc42 et de l'actine. Ces perturbations stimulent le transport des ERs dirigés par Rab11a vers le trans-Golgi et la fragmentation du Golgi, laquelle contribue à la progression de la MC. Les travaux présentés dans ce mémoire visent à déterminer la contribution de cette nouvelle voie de signalisation (contrôlant le trafic des ERs) dans le remodelage des organites en réponse au stress. Pour ce faire, la staurosporine (STS), un inhibiteur de kinases à large spectre induisant plusieurs mécanismes de MC, a été utilisé comme modèle principal. Les résultats indiquent que la STS perturbe le trafic des ERs et stimule leur translocation vers les membranes du trans-Golgi, lesquelles sont subséquemment fragmentées. Ces évènements sont indépendants des caspases et contribuent à la MC. En outre, la mobilisation des ERs induite par la STS est médiée par les KFS, Cdc42 et l'actine, tout comme la fragmentation du Golgi. De plus, j'ai démontré que la fragmentation du Golgi induite par la STS en absence de caspases contrôle partiellement la fission apoptotique des mitochondries, une organelle ayant un rôle central dans la signalisation de plusieurs modes de MC. Finalement, j'ai évalué la contribution de cette voie de transport rétrograde à l'activation des caspases. Les résultats préliminaires suggèrent que les GTPases Rab11a et Cdc42 jouent un rôle en amont de l'activation des caspases effectrices. Nous proposons que les signaux de stress stimulent la mobilisation des ERs, lesquels pourraient délivrer des lipides et des protéines de signalisation contribuant au remodelage des organelles et à la communication inter-organites orchestrant l'activation de multiples mécanismes de MC, tout au moins, dans le contexte de cellules cancéreuses.

No description available.

The Bcl-2 family of proteins contains both anti-apoptotic (e.g.Bcl-2, Bcl-xL) and pro-apoptotic (e.g.Bad, Bcl-xS) proteins. The Bcl-xL and Bcl-xS are splice variants, but have different functions during apoptosis. The pro-survival kinase Akt can phosphorylate certain Bcl-2-related proteins, specifically on serine residues, to regulate their function and localization. This is an extension of the work from our laboratorys finding that haloperidol induces PC12 cell death by inducing Bcl-xS which then translocates from cytosol to mitochondria where it facilitates the release of cytochrome c. The toxicity induced by Bcl-xS is reversed by expression of constitutively active Akt. I hypothesized that Akt-mediated post-translational modification may be important for regulating the function of Bcl-xS and Bcl-xL.<p> Three specific serine residues were ultimately chosen for the characterization of Bcl-xS/xL function: Ser62 (inactivation mutant), Ser106 (putative Akt phosphorylation motif), and Ser165 in Bcl-xS (and the corresponding Ser228 in Bcl-xL) (immediately upstream of hydrophobic tail). The individual substitution of all three Serines with Alanines (which precludes phosphorylation at that site) in Bcl-xS did not affect the expression of the protein, but they did induce varying degrees of cytotoxicity in both PC12 and HEK cultures. I focused on the Ser106 substitution mutant given my hypothesis that Akt targeted this site. Overexpression of Bcl-xS(S106A) was toxic in both PC12 and HEK cultures, as expected, and this coincided with the appearance of the Bcl-xS(S106A) protein in the mitochondrial fraction. The release of cytochrome c from PC12 cell mitochondria coincided with the co-immunoprecipitation of the Bcl-xS protein with VDAC (voltage-dependent anion channel), a channel-forming protein that is known to mediate cytochrome c release, and with the initiation of caspase-dependent events. This was not the case in HEK cells, where the mitochondrial VDAC seemed to be diminished and the toxicity was cytochrome c-independent as well as caspase-independent. In addition, I was able to demonstrate that the S106A substituted protein was not able to co-immunoprecipitate with Akt, supporting Ser106 as a potential target for the Akt protein. I then studied the effects of the homologous substitutions in Bcl-xL on cell function. I chose to use treatment with the potent inducer of apoptosis, staurosporine, as a model of cytotoxicity. Again, substituted proteins exerted toxicity, but they did not potentiate the effects of staurosporine, at least not on MTT conversion. I did notice, however, that there was a clear morphological change with certain concentrations of staurosporine, and subsequently demonstrated that the Bcl-xL(S106A) protein potentiated PC12 cell differentiation induced by staurosporine. This protein also co-immunoprecipitated better with Akt, which was unexpected given my results with the Bcl-xS(S106A) protein described above. Perhaps the extra amino acids in Bcl-xL account for this.<p> It is clear that the phosphorylation of Bcl-xS and Bcl-xL proteins is an important means of regulating their function and localization within the cell. These data support the S106 residues in both Bcl-xS and Bcl-xL as novel targets for the pro-survival Akt kinase, and indicate a role for this/these residue(s) in cellular functions as diverse as apoptosis and differentiation.

The Bcl-2 family of proteins contains both anti-apoptotic (e.g.Bcl-2, Bcl-xL) and pro-apoptotic (e.g.Bad, Bcl-xS) proteins. The Bcl-xL and Bcl-xS are splice variants, but have different functions during apoptosis. The pro-survival kinase Akt can phosphorylate certain Bcl-2-related proteins, specifically on serine residues, to regulate their function and localization. This is an extension of the work from our laboratorys finding that haloperidol induces PC12 cell death by inducing Bcl-xS which then translocates from cytosol to mitochondria where it facilitates the release of cytochrome c. The toxicity induced by Bcl-xS is reversed by expression of constitutively active Akt. I hypothesized that Akt-mediated post-translational modification may be important for regulating the function of Bcl-xS and Bcl-xL.<p> Three specific serine residues were ultimately chosen for the characterization of Bcl-xS/xL function: Ser62 (inactivation mutant), Ser106 (putative Akt phosphorylation motif), and Ser165 in Bcl-xS (and the corresponding Ser228 in Bcl-xL) (immediately upstream of hydrophobic tail). The individual substitution of all three Serines with Alanines (which precludes phosphorylation at that site) in Bcl-xS did not affect the expression of the protein, but they did induce varying degrees of cytotoxicity in both PC12 and HEK cultures. I focused on the Ser106 substitution mutant given my hypothesis that Akt targeted this site. Overexpression of Bcl-xS(S106A) was toxic in both PC12 and HEK cultures, as expected, and this coincided with the appearance of the Bcl-xS(S106A) protein in the mitochondrial fraction. The release of cytochrome c from PC12 cell mitochondria coincided with the co-immunoprecipitation of the Bcl-xS protein with VDAC (voltage-dependent anion channel), a channel-forming protein that is known to mediate cytochrome c release, and with the initiation of caspase-dependent events. This was not the case in HEK cells, where the mitochondrial VDAC seemed to be diminished and the toxicity was cytochrome c-independent as well as caspase-independent. In addition, I was able to demonstrate that the S106A substituted protein was not able to co-immunoprecipitate with Akt, supporting Ser106 as a potential target for the Akt protein. I then studied the effects of the homologous substitutions in Bcl-xL on cell function. I chose to use treatment with the potent inducer of apoptosis, staurosporine, as a model of cytotoxicity. Again, substituted proteins exerted toxicity, but they did not potentiate the effects of staurosporine, at least not on MTT conversion. I did notice, however, that there was a clear morphological change with certain concentrations of staurosporine, and subsequently demonstrated that the Bcl-xL(S106A) protein potentiated PC12 cell differentiation induced by staurosporine. This protein also co-immunoprecipitated better with Akt, which was unexpected given my results with the Bcl-xS(S106A) protein described above. Perhaps the extra amino acids in Bcl-xL account for this.<p> It is clear that the phosphorylation of Bcl-xS and Bcl-xL proteins is an important means of regulating their function and localization within the cell. These data support the S106 residues in both Bcl-xS and Bcl-xL as novel targets for the pro-survival Akt kinase, and indicate a role for this/these residue(s) in cellular functions as diverse as apoptosis and differentiation.

No description available.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / Eudistoma vannamei (Millar, 1977) à uma ascÃdia endÃmica do litoral do Nordeste brasileiro, largamente encontrado nas praias rochosas do estado do CearÃ. Previamente, o extrato bruto apresentou um interessante perfil em termos de bioatividade. O fracionamento bioguiado identificou uma mistura 1:1 altamente citotÃxica, contendo dois derivados inÃditos de estaurosporina, 2-hidroxi-7-oxoestaurosporina (I) e 3-hidroxi-7-oxoestaurosporina (II). IC50 para I/II e estaurosporina (STP) foram obtidas apÃs 72h de incubaÃÃo com diversas linhagens de cÃlulas tumorais, utilizando-se o ensaio do MTT, e em linfÃcitos humanos normais, atravÃs do ensaio de AlamarBlue. I/II superou a citotoxicidade de STP em 7 vezes, em mÃdia, para as cÃlulas tumorais, ao passo que mostrou-se tÃo ativa quanto frente Ãs cÃlulas normais. Uma anÃlise cinÃtica sobre a progressÃo de ciclo celular, ativaÃÃo de resposta a dano e vias de reparo de DNA, e induÃÃo de apoptose de cÃlulas HL-60 (leucemia) foi conduzida com 40 ou 80ng/mL I/II e acessada por citometria de fluxo e western blotting. Estudos de ciclo celular indicaram que I/II (40ng/mL) induz bloqueio de ciclo celular em G2/M e que este efeito prossegue irreversÃvel mediante a remoÃÃo do estÃmulo. STP (200ng/mL) induziu o bloqueio quase que completo em G2/M apÃs 24h de incubaÃÃo, enquanto perÃodos mais longos de incubaÃÃo provocam um aumento substancial de cÃlulas poliplÃides. A expressÃo de proteÃnas envolvidas no controle do ciclo celular (Cdk1, Cdk2, ciclina A e ciclina B1), associada à observaÃÃo morfolÃgica de cÃlulas tratadas com 40ng/mL I/II e coradas com H/E em lÃminas de vidro sugere que o bloqueio està ocorrendo, de fato, na fase G2. O bloqueio em G2 foi parcamente observado em cÃlulas tratadas com 80ng/mL I/II, conquanto caracterÃsticas apoptÃticas fizeram-se deveras evidentes. A avaliaÃÃo de dano à fita dupla de DNA atravÃs do teste do cometa neutro indica a induÃÃo apenas de baixo nÃvel de dano de DNA em cÃlulas tratadas com 40ng/mL I/II por 24, 48 ou 72h. Entretanto, cÃlulas tratadas com 80ng/mL I/II exibiram nÃveis mais elevados de dano. A expressÃo de proteÃnas relacionadas a dano de DNA (ATM e H2A.X) deu-se numa forma tempo- e concentraÃÃo-dependente, enquanto o bloqueio de ciclo e os marcadores de reparo (Chk1, Cdc25C, BRCA1) foram ativados, predominantemente, em cÃlulas tratadas com 40ng/mL I/II. Inversamente, a externalizaÃÃo de PS e a ativaÃÃo das caspases efetoras 3 e 7 e de PARP mostraram-se altamente expressos em cÃlulas tratadas com 80ng/mL I/II mostrou um claro efeito citostÃtico em cÃlulas HL-60 na menor concentraÃÃo testada, evidenciado pelo persistente bloqueio de ciclo celular e baixo dano em DNA; e um objetivo efeito citotÃxico na concentraÃÃo maior, motivado pelo extensivo dano em DNA e induÃÃo de apoptose. / Eudistoma vannamei Millar, 1977 is an endemic tunicate from the northeastern Brazilian coast, widely distributed over the rocky beaches of Cearà State. Previously, the crude extract showed an interesting bioactivity profile. Bioassay-guided fractionation yielded a highly cytotoxic 1:1 mixture identified as two novel staurosporine derivatives, 2-hydroxy-7-oxostaurosporine (I) and 3-hydroxy-7-oxostaurosporine (II). IC50 for I/II and staurosporine (STP) were obtained after 72h incubation with various tumor cell lines using the MTT assay and in normal human lymphocytes, by the AlamarBlue assay, where I/II outperformed STP in a 7-fold average. On normal cells, I/II showed to be equally effective as STP and, thus, showed a 25-fold average selectivity towards tumor cells. A kinetic analysis on cell cycle progression, activation of DNA damage and repair pathways and apoptosis induction of HL-60 cells (leukemia), was carried out with 40 or 80ng/mL I/II and accessed by flow cytometry and western blotting. Cell cycle studies indicated that I/II induces a G2-M arrest (at 40ng/mL, 45, 63 and 94% of arrested cells after 24, 48 and 72h treatment, respectively, against 9, 10 and 13% for the non-treated culture). Moreover, 24h-G2/M arrest is sustained and irreversible following removal of stimuli. STP induces 83% G2/M arrest at 200ng/mL after 24h incubation, whilst longer incubation periods provoke a substantial increase in polyploidy. Expression-rate of cell cycle related proteins (Cdk1, Cdk2, cyclin A and cyclin B1) paired with morphological observation of 40ng/mL I/II-treated H/E-stained cells placed on glass slides suggest that arrest is actually occurring at the G2 phase. G2 arrest is merely seen in 80ng/mL I/II-treated cells, while apoptotic features were quite evident. Double-strand breaks evaluated by the neutral comet assay indicates only low scored DNA damage against 24, 48 or 72h 40ng/mL I/II treated cells. However, 80ng/mL I/II-treated cells exhibited higher scored damage. DNA damage proteins (ATM and H2A.X) were expressed in a time- and concentration-dependent manner; while, cycle arrest and repair markers (Chk1, Cdc25C, BRCA1) were activated mostly on 40ng/mL I/II-treated cells. Conversely, PS externalization and activation of effector caspases 3 and 7 and PARP were highly blotted mostly for 80ng/mL I/II-treated cells. I/II induced a clear cytostatic effect on HL-60 cells at the lower concentration, distinguished by persistent cell cycle arrest and low DNA damage; and an objective cytotoxic effect at the higher concentration, motivated by extensive DNA damage and induction of apoptosis.

Protein kinases are important regulatory enzymes in signal transduction and in cell regulation. Understanding inhibition mechanisms of kinases is important for the further development of new therapies for cancer and inflammatory diseases. I have developed a statistical approach based on the Mantel test to find the relationship between the shapes of ATP binding sites and their affinities for inhibitors. My shape-based dendrogram shows clustering of the kinases based on similarity in shape. I investigate the pocket in terms of conservation of surrounding amino acids and atoms in order to identify the key determinants of ligand binding. I find that the most conserved regions are the main chain atoms in the hinge region and I show that the tetrahydropyran ring of staurosporine causes induced-fit of the glycine rich loop. I apply multiple linear regression to select distances measured between the distinctive parts of residues which correlate with the binding constants. This method allows me to understand the importance of the size of the gatekeeper residue and the closure between the first glycine of the GXGXXG motif and the aspartate of the DFG loop, which act together to promote tight binding to staurosporine. I also find that the greater the number of hydrogen bonds made by the kinase around the methylamine group of staurosporine, the tighter the binding to staurosporine. The website I have developed allows a better understanding of cross reactivity and may be useful for narrowing down the options for a synthetic strategy to design kinase inhibitors.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2008. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.