These studies were aimed at investigating the potential application of nanoparticles engineered from oil-in-water microemulsion precursors for enhancing immune responses to HIV-1 Tat and Gag p24 proteins. Both of the HIV-1 proteins have been reported to be critical in the virus life cycle and are being evaluated in clinical trials as vaccine candidates. Anionic nanoparticles were prepared using emulsifying wax as the oil phase and Brij 78 and sodium dodecyl sulfate as the surfactants. The resulting nanoparticles were coated with Tat and were demonstrated to produce superior immune responses after administration to BALB/c mice compared to Tat adjuvanted with Alum. Similarly, cationic nanoparticles were prepared using emulsifying wax and Brij 78 and cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide as the surfactants. The cationic nanoparticles were investigated for delivery of immunostimulatory adjuvants, namely three Toll-like receptor ligands, for obtaining synergistic enhancements in immune responses to a model antigen, Ovalbumin (OVA). In vitro and in vivo studies were carried out to elucidate possible mechanisms by which nanoparticles may result in enhancements in immune responses. In vitro studies were carried out to evaluate the uptake of nanoparticles into dendritic cells and to assess the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines from dendritic cells in the presence of nanoparicles. In vivo studies were carried out using a MHC class I restricted transgenic mouse model to investigate the potential for nanoparticles coated with OVA to enhance presentation of the protein to CD8+ T cells compared to OVA alone. Finally, the preparation of nanoparticles with a low amount of surface chelated nickel for high affinity binding to histidine-tagged (his-tag) proteins was investigated. It was hypothesized that this strengthened interaction of his-tag protein to the nickel chelated nanoparticles (Ni-NPs) would result in a greater uptake of antigen in vivo; therefore, enhanced immune responses compared to protein bound to anionic nanoparticles. In vivo evaluation of his-tag HIV-1 Gag p24 bound to Ni-NPs resulted in enhanced immune responses compared to protein either adjuvanted with Alum or coated on the surface of nanoparticles.

Le lymphome de Burkitt (BL) est due dans 80% des cas à une translocation chromosomique t(8;14)(q24;q32). Cette translocation marque l’évènement initial de la transformation maligne d’une cellule B normale, par délocalisation de l’oncogène CMYC à proximité du locus du gène codant pour la chaîne lourde d’immunoglobuline IGH par le mécanisme de réparation de l’ADN NHEJ durant l’hypermutation somatique (SMH). La probabilité de cette translocation est inversement proportionnelle à la distance qui sépare les loci portés par les deux chromosomes. La translocation (8;14) (q24;q32) qui apparaît durant les étapes de différentiation des lymphocytes B est encore plus importante chez les patients infectés par le virus Epstein-Barr (EBV) et le virus de l’immunodéficience humaine (VIH-1). L’objectif de notre étude est de déterminer les origines possibles de la translocation t(8;14) (q24;q32)dans les lymphocytes B normaux humains. Nous nous sommes intéressés tout d’abord à la dynamique de la localisation nucléaire des loci IGH et CMYC dans les lymphocytes B activés. Nous avons particulièrement étudié l’impact des virus EBV et VIH-1 sur l’organisation des gènes IGH et CMYC.Nous avons utilisé la technique d’hybridation in situ à fluorescence FISH pour la détection de CMYC (8q24) et IGH (14q32). Dans les lymphocytes B naïfs, CMYC est localisé du côté de la périphérie nucléaire, en revanche IGH est central, les deux loci sont complétement distants dans le noyau.L’activation des lymphocytes B induisait une augmentation de la colocalisation IGH-CMYC. La proximité physique entre les deux loci augmente la probabilité de leur translocation durant la SHM et favorise la t(8;14) (q24;q32) dans les lymphocytes B. Nous avons montré que les virus EBV et VIH-1ont un effet important sur la délocalisation IGH-CMYC dans les lymphocytes B. Nous avons aussi déterminé une molécule virale VIH-1 qui intervenait aussi dans la dérégulation de la localisation nucléaire des gènes IGH et CMYC. Nous avons déterminé deux mécanismes différents et indépendants impliqués dans la dynamique des loci IGH et CMYC : le premier mécanisme intervient dans le processus de développement normal des lymphocytes B, et le deuxième mécanisme dépend des virus ainsi que des molécules virales (particulièrement la Tat-HIV-1). / Eighty percent of Burkitt's lymphomas (BL) cases bear translocation t(8;14)(q24;q32). Thistranslocation is the initial event in malignant transformation of normal B-cell and derives from nonhomologousend joining of the oncogene CMYC to the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus IGH duringSomatic Hypermutation (SHM) of IGH. The probability of this translocation is inversely proportionalto the distance between the loci of involved chromosomes. The translocation t(8;14)(q24;q32) occursduring normal development of B-lymphocytes and more probable in patients infected with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1).The subject of this study was to determine the possible origin of the translocation t(8;14)(q24;q32) inhuman normal B-lymphocytes. We followed the dynamics of the nuclear localization of IGH andCMYC genes in activated B-lymphocytes. We payed particular attention to the impact of EBV andHIV-1 viruses on dynamics of both IGH and CMYC. We applied Fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH) for detection of CMYC (8q24) and IGH (14q32). In naïve B-cells CMYC is mainly localized inthe periphery of nucleus, whereas IGH is preferentially localized in the nuclear centre, i.e. these lociare distanced by a radius of cell nucleus. Activated B-lymphocytes displayed dramatic increase ofnumber of cells with colocalized IGH and CMYC. Close physical proximity of CMYC to IGH duringSHM amplifies the probability of occurance of translocation t(8;14)(q24;q32) in human Blymphocytes.Interestingly, we observed even more pronounced impact of EBVand HIV-1onproximity of IGH and CMYC. Finaly, among the molecules of HIV-1 we revealed those which possessthe most regulative role on dynamics of both IGH and CMYC. Our results suggest about twoindependent mechanisms of IGH and CMYC dynamics: the first is appropriate for normal developmentof B-lymphocytes and the second depends on virus and viral molecules, such as transactivator of viraltranscription HIV Tat.