La sclérodermie (SSc) est une maladie rare affectant les personnes génétiquement prédisposées d’une réponse immunitaire défectueuse. Malgré les derniers avancements et développements dans le domaine, l’étiologie et la pathogénèse de la maladie demeurent peu comprises. Par ailleurs, il y a un ralentissement dans la compréhension de cette maladie à cause du manque de modèle animal représentatif de la SSc humaine. Malgré plusieurs lacunes, les souris traitées avec la bléomycine ou portant des modifications génétiques (TSK-1) sont très utilisées dans les études précliniques de la SSc mais elles ne présentent pas toutes les caractéristiques de cette maladie. Pour contribuer à la recherche sur la SSc, la stagiaire postdoctorale Dre Heena Mehta a développé dans le laboratoire du Dre Sarfati en collaboration avec le Dr Senécal, un modèle de souris expérimental induit par l’immunisation de cellules dendritiques (DCs) chargées de peptides de la protéine topoisomérase I (TOPOIA et TOPOIB). Dans le but de caractériser ce modèle murin et d’établir un profil immunitaire, j’ai concentré mes analyses principalement sur les caractéristiques de la SSc telles que la fibrose, l’inflammation, l’hyper-γ-globulinémie polyclonale, la vasculopathie ainsi que de l’expression de cytokines. Brièvement, l’immunisation de souris avec les DCs chargées avec la topoisomérase I (TOPOI) a induit l’inflammation pulmonaire et cutanée, en plus de la fibrose sous forme diffuse (dcSSc). Les souris présentaient également des symptômes de la vasculopathie ainsi que des taux élevés d’anticorps polyclonaux. Les résultats démontraient que les peptides TOPOIA étaient efficaces dans l’induction de la fibrose et de la réponse inflammatoire alors que les peptides TOPOIB étaient surtout impliqués dans la fibrose cutanée. En plus de nos résultats, les observations préliminaires sur le profil de cytokines tissulaires suggéraient que ce modèle pourrait remplacer ou complémenter les autres modèles animaux de SSc. / Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare disease of unknown etiology that affects people that have a genetic predisposition to autoimmunity. Despite the latest advancement and development in the field, the mechanisms underlying disease development remain poorly understood. The lack of animal model that encompasses the cardinal features of human systemic sclerosis is a major cause of the slowdown in the understanding of this disease. In fact, some mouse models such as the bleomycin induced-SSc and TSK-1 mouse are widely used in preclinical studies of scleroderma. However, these models have several shortcomings since these mice do not display all the cardinal features of the disease found in humans. To contribute to the research of SSc, postdoctoral fellow Dre Heena Mehta has developed in Dre Sarfati’s laboratory in collaboration with Dr Senécal, an experimental murine model of SSc induced by dendritic cells loaded with topoisomerase I peptide. In order to characterise the model and establish an immune profile of our experimental mice, my analysis focused mainly on the cardinal features of scleroderma such as fibrosis, inflammation and polyclonal hyper-γ-globulinemia, vasculopathy and cytokines gene expression. Hence, immunization with dendritic cells loaded topoisomerase I peptides (TOPOIA and TOPOIB) induced pulmonary and dermal inflammation together with diffuse form of fibrosis. The mice also showed symptoms of vasculopathy and high levels of polyclonal antibodies. These results showed that TOPOIA peptides are effective in inducing fibrosis and inflammatory response while TOPOIB peptides are involved in skin fibrosis. Together with the results, the preliminary data on cytokine profile in tissue suggested that our mouse model could possibly replace/complement other current animal models of scleroderma.

L'atteinte vasculaire cérébrale est une complication grave et fréquente chez les enfants drépanocytaires, car elle impacte leur pronostic, en termes de morbidité (handicap) et de mortalité. L’accélération des vitesses mesurées par le doppler transcrânien (DTC) est prédictive du risque d'infarctus cérébral et implique une modification de la prise en charge thérapeutique. Chez l’enfant drépanocytaire, l'infarctus cérébral est d'origine multifactorielle, lié à la vasculopathie cérébrale sténotique ainsi qu'à une hypercoagulabilité et une activation cellulaire. Nous avons étudié de manière prospective l'association de marqueurs biologiques au DTC chez 108 enfants porteurs de syndrome drépanocytaire majeur et recherché des éléments prédictifs d'événement vasculaire périphérique ou cérébral. Nous avons ainsi réalisé une analyse approfondie de la fonction endothéliale, de l’activation de l’hémostase primaire et de la coagulation, de l'activation cellulaire et de la mécanique artérielle. L’atteinte vasculaire cérébrale a été estimée en considérant les données du DTC comme une variable continue plutôt que catégorielle. Le principal résultat est le rôle prédictif du nombre des cellules souches hématopoïétiques CD34+ pour la survenue d'événements cliniques vasculaires. Nous avons également mis en évidence un profil particulier de coagulation chez les enfants drépanocytaires présentant des céphalées récurrentes ou des accès migraineux. Ceci supporte l'hypothèse que les céphalées chez l'enfant drépanocytaire, et notamment celles répondant aux critères de la migraine, peuvent être le reflet d'événements ischémiques cérébraux ultra-transitoires. Elles représentent donc peut-être un indicateur indirect de risque ischémique cérébral. Nous avons par ailleurs montré que le risque hémorragique cérébral chez les enfants drépanocytaires restait proportionnellement stable par rapport au risque ischémique, malgré l'utilisation en routine de stratégies de prévention du risque ischémique. L'observation de lésions sténotiques et d'anévrismes permet de supposer que ces atteintes vasculaires cérébrales procèdent de mécanismes physiopathologiques communs. L'amélioration de la compréhension des mécanismes physiopathologiques des complications neurovasculaires et la mise en évidence de facteurs prédictifs d'événements cliniques est un pas supplémentaire vers l'amélioration de la sensibilité diagnostique de la vasculopathie cérébrale drépanocytaire, de la compréhension des mécanismes des accidents vasculaires cérébraux de ces enfants et probablement de leur pronostic neurologique en permettant une prise en charge thérapeutique adaptée plus précoce. / Cerbrovascular involvement is frequent in children with sickle-cell disease (SCD). It is severe in terms of morbidity (handicap) and mortality. Accelerated intracranial arterial blood flow velocity measured by transcranial doppler (TCD) is predictive for stroke occurrence and leads to therapeutic modifications. In SCD children, ischemic stroke results from stenotic cerebral vasculopathy associated with hypercoagulability, and cell activation. We prospectively addressed associations between biological markers and TCD velocity in 108 children with sickle-cell anemia (HbSS or HbSβ°) and looked for predictive factors for vascular peripheral or cerebral events. We performed extensive work-up of endothelial function, coagulation activation, cell activation, and arterial wall mechanics. Cerebral vasculopathy was defined using TCD velocity (continuous data) rather than the classical category classification. The main result is the demonstration of the role of hematopoietic stem cell CD34+ for the prediction of clinical vascular event occurrence. We also demonstrated an imbalanced coagulation profile in SCD children with recurrent cephalalgia or migraine. This finding supports the hypothesis that recurrent cephalalgia, especially migraine, could be a symptom of ultra-transient ischemic cerebrovascular events in SCD children. Therefore, this symptom may also indicate increased cerebrovascular ischemic risk. We demonstrated that the ratio cerebral hemorrhagic risk / cerebral ischemic risk in SCD children remains stable, despite the routine use of strategies aiming at reducing ischemic stroke risk. The concurrent observation of intracranial arterial stenotic lesions and aneurysm suggests common pathophyiological mechanisms. Improving pathophysiological understanding of cerebrovascular complications and demonstrating predictive risk factors for clinical events may help clinicians to improve early diagnosis of SCD-associated cerebral vasculopathy, to better understand stroke mechanism in this population, and probably to improve neurological outcome with earlier and more adapted management

No description available.

Diabetic vasculopathy (DV) is the most important consequence of chronic hyperglycemia in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). This thesis explores the interaction of blood, bone and kidney in the pathogenesis of DV by i) reviewing the current understanding of pathogenesis of macrovascular and microvascular diseases in DM to identify gaps in literature and generate hypotheses relating to various facets of DV ii) undertaking a series of prospective studies to examine these hypotheses iii) analysing the findings and integrating any new information obtained from the clinical studies into the current knowledge base and iv) generating hypotheses upon which future work might be based. The literature search was carried out with the aim of understanding current concepts of pathogenesis of DV and its potential modulators. The original reviews resulting from this process are presented in chapters 2 to 4. A series of pilot studies reported in chapters 7 to 11, were then carried out to interrogate hypotheses originating from this process. The first study was carried out in healthy individuals to define the biological variation of potential modulators of DV, namely erythropoietin (EPO), parathyroid hormone, 25 hydroxyvitamin D and 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D to facilitate the design and interpretation of subsequent studies. It revealed a wide biological variation of these modulators in the healthy population thus,emphasizing the need to have a control group in the subsequent study population. To examine whether tubulointerstitial dysfunction occurs before the onset of microalbuminuria, a measurement of the above mentioned parameters was carried out along with markers of tubulointerstitial injury in patients with type 1 and type 2 DM without microalbuminuria and in non-diabetic controls. It was found that tubulointerstitial dysfunction with low levels of EPO and 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D and higher excretion of tubular injury markers, occurs before the onset of microalbuminuria. Subsequently, diabetic and nondiabetic chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients with EPO deficiency anaemia were examined to study the effects of EPO therapy on the excretion of tubular injury markers. However, in these patient groups, we were unable to demonstrate an effect of EPO therapy on the markers of tubular injury in spite of a beneficial haematological response. To examine whether vascular calcification (VC) and bone mineral density (BMD) were linked in patients with diabetes mellitus and to explore their relationship to modulators of DV, an assessment of VC and BMD was undertaken in patients with type 2 DM with different degrees of proteinuria and normoalbuminuria. VC was assessed by CT scan and BMD by a DEXA scan. Modulators of DV were measured including serum Osteoprotegerin (OPG) and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-b-ligand (RANKL). The findings were i) a high prevalence of VC and osteopenia in normoalbuminuric type 2 DM patients with normal serum creatinine ii) a weak inverse relationship between VC and osteopenia iii) proteinuric patients had worse VC but not osteopenia iv) weak relationships between OPG levels and both VC and osteopenia, masked by age in multivariate analysis. The final study examined the relationship between modulators of DV, including OPG and RANKL, and the degree of CKD. It was found that abnormalities of OPG and RANKL occur before the onset of microalbuminuria and progress with deterioration of renal function. Compared to nondiabetics, DM patients have higher OPG levels in the predialysis phase and lower levels in haemodialysis phase, a phenomenon that might indicate endothelial exhaustion in dialysis patients with DM. The derangements associated with DV seem to occur earlier than previously thought. Further work is required to untangle these complexities and to define the contribution of factors such as the adverse blood milieu, the vasculature, abnormal bone and mineral metabolism, and early tubulointerstitial damage. The findings from the studies reported here may help in the formulation of new hypotheses, which might contribute to future work in this area.

No description available.