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Targeting of viral nanoparticles to cancer specific receptors
Žáčková Suchanová, Jiřina ; Španielová, Hana (advisor) ; Němečková, Šárka (referee) ; Ulbrich, Pavel (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to reveal the potential of mouse polyomavirus (MPyV) based virus-like particles (VLPs) as possible nanocarriers for directed delivery of therapeutic or diagnostic compounds to specific cells or tissues. We have chosen mouse polyomavirus VLPs because they do not contain viral DNA and are considered safe for utilization in bio-applications. In our research, we used a chemical approach for retargeting of MPyV based VLPs from their natural receptor to cancer cells. The chemical modification of the capsid surface exposed lysines by an aldehyde-containing reagent enabled conjugation of VLPs to selected molecules: transferrin and inhibitor of glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII). Transferrin, as a transporter of iron to metabolically active cells, targeted VLPs to numerous types of cancer cells overexpressing the transferrin receptor. On the other hand, GCPII serves as a transmembrane marker specific for prostate cancer cells and conjugation of its inhibitor to VLPs resulted in successful recognition of these cells. Electron microscopy was used for visualization of modified VLPs and flow cytometry together with confocal microscopy for investigation of cell specific interactions and VLP uptake. Furthermore, we explored the influence of serum proteins on VLPs. The abundance of...
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Zinc-Dependent Hydrolases: Structure-Function Study of Glutamate Carboxypeptidase II and Histone Deacetylase 6
Škultétyová, Ľubica ; Bařinka, Cyril (advisor) ; Obšil, Tomáš (referee) ; Novák, Petr (referee)
Zinc-binding proteins represent approximately one tenth of the proteome and a good portion of them are zinc-dependent hydrolases. This thesis focuses on biochemical and structural characterization of glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII) and histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6), two members of the zinc-dependent metallohydrolase superfamily. We describe here their interactions with natural substrates and inhibitors. GCPII is a homodimeric membrane protease catalyzing hydrolytic cleavage of glutamate from the neurotransmitter N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) and dietary folates in the central and peripheral nervous systems and small intestine, respectively. This enzyme is associated with several neurological disorders and also presents an ideal target for imaging and treatment of prostate cancer. GCPII inhibitors typically consist of a zinc-binding group (ZBG) linked to an S1' docking moiety (a glutamate moiety or its isostere). As such, these compounds are highly hydrophilic molecules therefore unable to cross the blood-brain barrier and this hampers targeting GCPII to the central nervous system. Different approaches are adopted to alter the S1' docking moiety of the existing inhibitors. As a part of this thesis, we present different strategies relying on replacement of the canonical P1' glutamate residue...
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Human glutamate carboxypeptidases II and III
Navrátil, Michal ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Obšil, Tomáš (referee) ; Pavlíček, Jiří (referee)
The herein presented Ph.D. dissertation describes kinetic and structural characterization of human glutamate carboxypeptidases II and III (GCPII and GCPIII) using a complete panel of their natural substrates. These enzymes hydrolyze C-terminal glutamate from their substrates. They share 67 % sequence identity and also similar enzymatic activities. This thesis quantitatively compares human GCPII and GCPIII in terms of their ability to hydrolyze the substrates N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate (NAAG), folyl-poly-γ-L-glutamic acids (FolGlun) and β-citryl-L-glutamate (BCG). We demonstrated that GCPIII hydrolyzes its substrates in a metal- dependent manner, that BCG is a specific substrate of GCPIII, and that NAAG and FolGlun are specific substrates of GCPII. We also provide indirect biochemical evidence that GCPIII might feature a heterometallic active-site cluster. Additionally, we characterized the relevance of a surface exosite of GCPII, the arene-binding site (ABS), for the hydrolysis of FolGlun substrates using mutagenesis and enzyme kinetics and showed that polymorphic His475Tyr variant of GCPII hydrolyzes FolGlun substrates with the same kinetic parameters as the wild-type enzyme. Furthermore, this thesis focuses on structural aspects of the substrate specificities of GCPII and GCPIII: we present...
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Chemically modified Murine Polyomavirus-like particles and their interaction with Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA)
Blažková, Kristýna ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Horníková, Lenka (referee)
Prostate cancer is one of the most abundant types of cancer among men and the demand for a specific treatment is very high. In this thesis, I have focused on using Glutamate Carboxypepti- dase II (GCPII), as a target for a proof-of-principle delivery system. GCPII is a transmembrane protein that internalizes after a binding of a ligand and is overexpressed in prostate cancer. Virus-like particles from Murine polyomavirus (VLPs) are a suitable nanocarrier for the delivery of imaging agents and drugs. Here I describe modifying these VLPs with inhibitors of GCPII and fluorescent dyes and characterize their binding to GCPII on surface plasmon resonance and to cells expressing GCPII on confocal microscopy. VLPs carrying a GCPII inhibitor show specific binding to GCPII on surface plasmon reso- nance, however they bind non-specifically to cells that don't express GCPII. Several approaches have been tried to avoid that. The substitution of BC loop on the exterior surface of VLPs that is partially responsible for the binding of sialic acid did not seem to affect specificity on cells. Another approach tested was coating of the wild-type VLPs with large polymer carrying a flu- orescent label and a GCPII inhibitor. After the conjugation of the polymer to the VLP, specific binding and internalization in GCPII-positive...
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Mass Spectrometry-Based Identification of a Potential Binding Partner of Glutamate Carboxypetidase II
Tužil, Jan ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Novák, Petr (referee)
English Abstract The incoming paradigm of the network (or systems) biology calls for a new high throughput tool for a wide scale study of protein-protein interactions. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics have experienced a great progress in recent years and have become an indispensable technology of elementary as well as clinical research. Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII; EC 3.5.17.21) is a transmembrane protein with two known enzymatic activities. Its expression is highly upregulated in some solid tumors and also in tumor-associated neovasculature in general. Nevertheless, none of the two enzymatic activities were shown to be physiologically relevant to these cells. Some facts point at a possible receptor function of GCPII, however, no specific binding partner has been found yet. In the search for potential binding partners and/or ligands of GCPII, a series of methods have been employed, including pull-down experiment, immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry. Sample preparation and mass spectrometry data processing methodology was specifically developed in order to identify potential binding partners. As one of the outcome of that methodology, the interaction of β-subunit of F1 ATP synthase was selected for further detailed analysis as a putative ligand of GCPII.
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Preparation of affinity resin for the identification and preparation of glutamate carboxypeptidase II in biological material
Parolek, Jan ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Bořek Dohalská, Lucie (referee)
For treatment of benign and malignant tumors it is desirable to find more specific and less burdening ways of therapy. The main objective of improving the treatment of inoperable tumors is as low as possible damage to healthy tissues during tumor tissue elimination. Using antibodies in research and therapy brought significant progress; antibodies are able not to only mark cells expressing certain molecules, but even to eliminate them. However, tumor cells are very similar to healthy cells and this similarity is one of the major problems in treatment of cancer; most of the substances toxic to tumor have also some adverse effect on the whole organism. For this reason, it is necessary to search new tumor-specific markers for treatment of tumor-based diseases. Monoclonal antibodies can be linked with a drug molecule (cytotoxic substance, radionuclide, etc.) and getting antibody- drug conjugate. These conjugates are very promising medicaments for carcinoma treatment because monoclonal antibody can find specific target and drug substance can be delivered locally with minimal harm to patient's organism. Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII) became one of the specific markers for the prostate cancer. GCPII is an integral membrane protein, which is highly expressed by epithelial cells of the prostate...
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Příprava a charakterisace rekombinantního dermcidinu jako potenciálního proteinového partnera glutamátkarboxypeptidasy II
Tužil, Jan ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Pavlíček, Jiří (referee)
A process of forming new blood vessels is necessary for tumour viability and expansion. Without vasculature, tumour stops growing at a size of millimeters. Some tumours, however, undergo an angiogenic switch and start to build up their own vascular architecture. The rate of apoptosis then decreases and the tumour becomes invasive. There are many factors that control the process of physiological angiogenesis. These might or might not relate to tumour tissue as well. Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII; EC 3.4.17.21) is a type II transmembrane glycoprotein with two known enzymatic activities. GCPII expression is upregulated in prostate cancer and also highly expressed in tumour-associated neovasculature even though none of these enzymatic functions was observed on the endothelium. Although numerous researches suggested that GCPII might serve as a receptor, no natural ligand has been identified yet. Preliminary experiments performed in our laboratory indicated some proteins to be possible natural ligands of GCPII. Therefore, we chose one of them- dermcidin, cloned and expressed this protein in mammalian cells. We investigated its possible interaction with GCPII introducing new detection system utilizing FLAG-tag however, we were not able to approve neither disapprove its interaction in vitro.
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Synthesis of the Var14 variant of 5'-UTR of GCPII gene as a standard for RT-PCR
Petrovová, Gabriela ; Ingr, Marek (advisor) ; Černá, Věra (referee)
The aim of this work was to prepare the synthetic 5'UTR sequence of splicing variant Var 14 of glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII). A method of two-step PCA was used to this purpose. The sequence was divided into 8 overlapping oligonucleotides that were combined into a single dsDNA by two consecutive PCR. Product of the synthesis was cloned into the auxilliary cloning vector pUC19. After the sequencing analysis detected mutations were corrected. The product was subcloned into the target vector pcDNA4 His Var 14 which already contained the sequence GCPII gene. This construct was then used for the construction of the calibration curve, which will serve as a standard for RT-PCR for quantitative detection of this variant of GCP II in patients with prostate cancer. Construct will be further used as an expression vector to produce of the variants Var 14 GCPII in eucaryotic baculovirus expression system. Keywords: 5'UTR, two-step PCA, pUC19, RT-PCR, GCPII
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Preparation, expression and characterization of mouse GCPIII
Bäumlová, Adriana ; Šebo, Peter (referee) ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor)
English abstract Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII, EC 3.4.17.21) is a type II transmembrane glycoprotein which has been discovered in nervous system as an enzyme responsible for the hydrolysis of neuropeptide N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate to N-acetyl-L-aspartate and L-glutamate and that has been hypothesized to influence glutamatergic signaling processes. Except for brain, GCPII was mainly found in prostate, kidney, and small intestine. In small intestine, GCPII cleaves terminal glutamates from polyglutamylated folates facilitating thus absorption of dietary folates. In prostate, this enzyme is known as prostate-specific membrane antigen and is used as a cancer marker. Mus musculus is an important model for studing GCPII and its homologs as a therapeutic target. While human GCPII and its paralog GCPIII are relatively well characterized, no biochemical study of their mouse orthologs is available. That is why mouse glutamate carboxypeptidase III (mGCPIII) was cloned, prepared by recombinant expression in insect cells and characterized. We show that pure mouse GCPIII possesses α-glutamate carboxypeptidase activity which is effectively inhibited by specific inhibitor GCPII, 2-PMPA. We also analyzed sensitivity and specifity of monoclonal antibodies against mouse GCPIII. Immunoblots demonstrate that...
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