Orientador: Jose Barreto Campello Carvalheira / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T07:58:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Camargo_JulianaAlves_M.pdf: 3334527 bytes, checksum: b81d9c9ae31fdd4949ee3bd76e45b269 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Dentre as doenças com a maior incidência de morte em países ocidentais, destacam-se a obesidade e o câncer, e hoje pode-se dizer que estão fortemente interligadas. Estudos mostraram uma forte associação entre obesidade e câncer de cólon e de mama, sendo que quanto maior a adiposidade, pior é o prognóstico para estas doenças. Entretanto, as razões pelas quais a obesidade eleva o risco destes tipos de câncer ainda não foram completamente elucidadas. Algumas hipóteses foram levantadas, entre elas a associação da adiposidade com a resposta inflamatória subclínica, onde o excesso de tecido adiposo resulta em altos níveis de citocinas inflamatórias, contribuindo para a iniciação e progressão do câncer. Especificamente, a inflamação gerada pela adiposidade apresenta como cerne de sua patogênese a ativação de proteínas inflamatórias, como JNK e IKK. Estas proteínas ativam fatores de transcrição, como NF-kB, Stat-3 e AP-1 que controlam a expressão de genes pró-inflamatórios como o TNF e a IL-6. Recentemente, demonstrou-se a participação do TNFa, como sendo uma molécula importante na promoção de tumores de cólon em animais obesos. Neste estudo avaliamos o papel do TLR2 - um receptor com a função já estabelecida na gênese da inflamação subclínica encontrada na obesidade, no câncer de cólon e de mama mediados pela obesidade. Nossos resultados demonstram que a redução da atividade do TLR2 protege os roedores do desenvolvimento de câncer de mama, cólon e pele. Á semelhança dos animais controle, os animais submetidos à dieta hiperlipídica também apresentaram atenuação do desenvolvimento de câncer. Mecanisticamente, a inibição do TLR2 reduz a atividade de IKK e protege do desenvolvimento de câncer por meio da repressão da liberação das citocinas pró-inflamatórias IL-6 e TNF. Assim, neste trabalho demonstramos que o TLR2 é crucial para o desenvolvimento de diferentes tipos de câncer, tanto em animais controle como submetidos à dieta hiperlipídica / Abstract: Among the diseases with the highest incidence of death in American countries, obesity and cancer are very important, and today we can say that these are connected. Studies have shown a strong association between obesity and some types of cancer, such as colon and breast cancer. Higher adiposity result in the worse prognosis for these diseases. However, the reasons why obesity increase the risk of these cancers have not been completely elucidated. Several hypotheses have been raised, including the association of adiposity with subclinical inflammatory response, in which excess of adipose tissue results in high levels of inflammatory cytokines, contributing to the initiation and progression of cancer. The inflammation generated by adiposity stimulates the activation of inflammatory proteins such as JNK and IKK. These proteins activate transcription factors such as NF-kB, Stat-3 and AP-1, that control the expression of pro-inflammatory genes such as TNF and IL-6. Recently our group demonstrated that the TNFa is an important molecule in the promotion of colon tumors in obese animals. We evaluated in this study the role of TLR2, as receptor that is already established the role in the genesis of subclinical inflammation found in obesity, colon and breast cancer mediated by obesity. Our results demonstrated that the reduction of TLR2 activity protects the animals from development of breast, colon, and skin cancer. Interestingly, like the animal control, animals in high fat diet also showed attenuation of the development of cancer. Mechanistically, inhibition of TLR2 reduces the activity of IKK and protects the development of cancer through repression of the release of IL-6 and TNF pro-inflammatory cytokines. Accordingly, this study demonstrated that TLR2 is crucial for the development of different types of cancer in both animals control and fed with high fat diet / Mestrado / Fisiopatologia Médica / Mestra em Ciências

Sex influences the severity and evolution of various inflammatory conditions. Women exhibit better clinical courses and increased survival compared to men in acute inflammatory processes, yet worse prognosis in several chronic inflammatory diseases, probably due to the higher inflammation observed in females. This higher inflammation in females may contribute to better pathogen clearance during the early inflammatory response, but also to enhanced tissue damage during prolonged inflammatory response. Many X-linked genes are involved in the immune response and the mechanisms underlying these sex-dependent differences are multiple and probably involve both hormonal and genetic factors. To evaluate the sex differences in the immune response and the role of the X chromosome relatively to the sex hormones, we studied acute inflammatory response in prepubertal children, whose sex hormones levels are very low, as well as women at different phases of the menstrual cycle and subjects with various X/Y sex chromosome ratios. In children with severe sepsis, we observed, in vivo, higher inflammation and lower pH, in girls compared to boys. In vitro stimulation of certain immune functions depending on X-linked genes showed specific profiles of inflammatory cytokine production and leucocyte migration markers expression in males and subjects carrying only one X chromosome but phenotypically females (Turner patients), compared to females and subjects carrying two X chromosomes but phenotypically males (Klinefelter patients), in favor of a role for the X chromosome. Our work highlighted important sex differences in terms of in vivo acute inflammatory response and in vitro activation of certain X-linked genes. These differences cannot be explained by the sex steroid levels, thus supporting the hypothesis of a preponderant role of sex chromosomes in inflammatory response. / Doctorat en Sciences médicales (Médecine) / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

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There has been increasing concern regarding the emergence of multi-drug resistant pathogens. The resistance develops when pathogens, especially bacteria, are frequently exposed to conventional antibiotics, as they are heavily used in both human and livestock. This is due to the high target specificity of conventional antibiotics, which places pathogens in high selective pressures and eventually results in drug resistant by mutations. To address this issue, global actions and cooperation are needed. At the same time, new technologies and strategies need to be developed. Host defense peptides (HDPs) are widely found in the innate immune system. They show both direct antimicrobial properties and immunomodulatory activities. The multifaceted functions of HPDs make them less likely to promote antimicrobial resistance. Thus, they are promising as new therapeutics to treat multi-drug resistant infections. In fact, several drug candidates derived from HDPs have entered the clinical trial, but none of them got into the clinic. This is due to several challenges associated with HDPs, such as low in vivo stability, high cost of manufacturing, and toxicity to mammalian cells. In this dissertation, we explored the ability of a new type of unnatural scaffolds (γ-AApeptides) to mimic the functions of HDPs, including both broad spectrum antimicrobial properties and immunomodulatory activities. Furthermore, the efforts to identify simpler and more drug like γ-AApeptide based antimicrobial agents were also discussed. The findings in this dissertation may lead to the development of potential drug candidates to treat multi-drug resistant infections.

Les plaquettes jouent un rôle majeur dans l’hémostase primaire ainsi que dans l’inflammation. Elles contiennent et sécrètent une grande variété de facteurs solubles et parmi les nombreux récepteurs qu’elles expriment à leur surface, les plaquettes expriment les « Toll-Like Receptor » (TLR), récepteurs clés de l’interaction entre l’immunité innée et adaptative. En réponse à un stimulus infectieux, comme le lipopolysaccharide (LPS) des bactéries Gram-négative, ligand naturel du TLR4, ou des peptides issus d’une partie de la protéine d’enveloppe du VIH (gp41), les plaquettes vont s’activer de manière différentielle. L’activation plaquettaire est variable en fonction de leur activation par à un stimulus hémostatique (exemple : la thrombine) vs. infectieux (exemple : le LPS) ; le panel de cytokines libérées dans le surnageant plaquettaire semble en fait finement régulé. De plus, nous avons démontré la présence intra-plaquettaire de la majorité des protéines composant les voies de signalisation du TLR4 eucaryote. Nous avons ensuite montré que ces voies pouvaient être modulées. L’engagement du TLR4 plaquettaire par deux types biochimiques de LPS entraîne un relargage différentiel des facteurs solubles immunomodulateurs dans le surnageant de culture et que ce surnageant dernier génère une activation différentielle des cellules cibles, comme les cellules mononucléées du sang circulant. Ces travaux montrent que la réponse inflammatoire plaquettaire est régulée en fonction du stimulus. Ainsi, mes travaux s’inscrivent dans la ré-exploration de la fonction inflammatoire des plaquettes sanguines et l’étude du rôle des plaquettes comme cellules de l’immunité innée et inflammatoire / Blood platelets are anucleated cells which play a major role on primary hemostasis and well demonstrated other functions in inflammation. Platelets store and secrete a great variety of soluble factors, with immunomodulatory functions. They also contain transcription factors that exert non-genomic activities. Among numerous receptors expressed at the surface of platelets, they display Toll-Like Receptors (TLR) that are key molecules for the interaction between innate and adaptive immunity. Platelets can be activated in response to infectious stimulation, such as with a bacterial gram-negative Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) - the natural ligand of the TLR4, or peptides from the gp41, part of the HIV envelope. Moreover, stimulation with hemostatic or infectious agonists results in the differential secretion of panels of immunomodulatory products, that seems to be finely regulated. To further understand this regulatory process, we have studied the presence in the platelet cytosol of the majority of eukaryotic TLR4 pathways proteins. The engagement of the platelet TLR4 with two biochemically distinct LPS (smooth vs. rough) leads to a differential release of immunomodulatory products in platelet supernatants; those supernatants can then differently activate target cells such as peripheral blood mononuclear cells. These results demonstrate that the inflammatory response of human platelets is regulated by the nature of the stimulus, showing new evidence on the sentry role of these cells. Thus, my work is part of a novel study of the inflammatory function of blood platelets and the role of these cells as immune cells, essentially in the innate and inflammatory branch

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第22362号 / 医博第4603号 / 新制||医||1043(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 平井 豊博, 教授 稲垣 暢也, 教授 竹内 理 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Hematopoiesis is a vital process in which red blood cells and cells of the immune system are formed. It is initiated during early embryonic development when we find hematopoietic progenitors in separate anatomical sites. Embryonic hematopoiesis comprises three successive and partly overlapping waves of progenitors with a different hematopoietic potential. The primary anatomical place where hematopoiesis takes place shortly before the birth is the bone marrow (BM). Since at this time point of development BM is already populated by hematopoietic stem cell (HSCs) progenitors, it becomes also the site of hematopoiesis in adulthood. However, the bone marrow is not the only place where hematopoietic progenitors emerge and develop. The Yolk sac (YS) and the Aorta-Gonad-Mesonephros (AGM) region are the initial sites of the appearance of the three waves of progenitors in the early embryogenesis. These progenitors and their descendants play an indispensable role during the development of an individual. Because there are no specific markers that would unambiguously characterize progenitors of these individual waves, their physical separation and hence also functional characterization is still incomplete. Recent studies have shown that Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are expressed on adult HSCs. The stimulation of...

Background: Interactions between the neuroendocrine and immune system play an importatnt role in maintaining homeostasis. This communication is mediated by cytokines, neurotransmiters and hormones through endocrine, paracrine and autocrine signaling. Prolactin (PRL), hormone of anterior pituitary, is produced by a number of other tissues and cells of immune system. On periphery, PRL is cytokine. Sepsis is an inflamatory response of the organism to severe infection, Th1 immune response is activated and PRL could participate in it. Toll-like receptors (TLR) play a key role in a recognition of bacteial components and mediate a systemic response (with PRL secretion) during infection. It is supposed that activated immune system leads to increasing of PRL, TLR2 and TLR4 gene expression. We detected PRL, TLR2 a TLR4 mRNA levels in monocytes from patiens with system inflammation. We studied influence of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP -1149 G/T) in PRL gene promotor, it supposed that G allele increases PRL expression. Materials and Methods: For the pilot study 30 patients diagnose with severe infectious event. Collectoin of patiens blood samples was performed consequently three times. Control group comprised 40 healthy individuals. One blood sample was taken from each healthy subject. For testing of...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play important role in the innate immune system. TLR15 is reported to have a unique role in defense against pathogens, but its structural and evolution characterizations are still poorly understood. In this study, we identified 57 completed TLR15 genes from avian and reptilian genomes. TLR15 clustered into an individual clade and was closely related to family 1 on the phylogenetic tree. Unlike the TLRs in family 1 with the broken asparagine ladders in the middle, TLR15 ectodomain had an intact asparagine ladder that is critical to maintain the overall shape of ectodomain. The conservation analysis found that TLR15 ectodomain had a highly evolutionarily conserved region on the convex surface of LRR11 module, which is probably involved in TLR15 activation process. Furthermore, the protein-protein docking analysis indicated that TLR15 TIR domains have the potential to form homodimers, the predicted interaction interface of TIR dimer was formed mainly by residues from the BB-loops and αC-helixes. Although TLR15 mainly underwent purifying selection, we detected 27 sites under positive selection for TLR15, 24 of which are located on its ectodomain. Our observations suggest the structural features of TLR15 which may be relevant to its function, but which requires further experimental validation.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are important pattern recognition receptors in the innate immune system of fish. Although ten years have passed since the first identification, the systematic knowledge about fish-specific TLR19 is still far insufficient. In present study, a phylogenetic analysis showed that TLR19 belonged to family 11, and clustered with TLR20 and TLR11/12 on the evolutionary tree. TLR20 is the closest paralogue of TLR19. The ectodomain of TLR19 contains 24 leucine-rich repeat (LRR) modules. The electrostatic surface potential analysis indicated that the modeled structure of TLR19 ectodomain showed much stronger polarity on the ascending lateral surface than on the descending lateral surface. The ascending lateral surface with strong electrostatic surface potential possibly mainly participates in the ligand binding of TLR19 ectodomain. The quite small dN/dS value at the TLR19 locus showed that TLR19 was very conserved. Approximately one third codons in the coding sequence of TLR19 were subjected to significantly negative selection, whereas only 5 codons underwent significantly positive selection. Overall, these findings possibly help in deepening the understanding to fish-specific TLR19.