Contribution of Defective Cytotoxicity to Development Of
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CONTRIBUTION OF DEFECTIVE CYTOTOXICITY TO DEVELOPMENT OF CANINE HEMOPHAGOCYTIC HISTIOCYTIC SARCOMA A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Guelph by MICHAL NETA In partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September, 2011 © Michal Neta, 2011 ABSTRACT CONTRIBUTION OF DEFECTIVE CYTOTOXICITY TO DEVELOPMENT OF CANINE HEMOPHAGOCYTIC HISTIOCYTIC SARCOMA Michal Neta Advisor: University of Guelph, 2011 Professor Robert M. Jacobs Canine Hemophagocytic Histiocytic Sarcoma (CHHS) is an aggressive neoplasm of macrophages with local lymphocytic reaction. Similarities exist between CHHS and Familial Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (FHL), a complex of histiocytic diseases in children, which is attributable to various defects in granule dependent killing (GDK). This led to the hypothesis that defective GDK compromises lymphocyte homeostasis and anti-tumor immunity which results in CHHS. The sequence of canine perforin, a key effector molecule of GDK, was determined by RT-PCR and RACE. Genomic DNA from healthy and CHHS-affected dogs was sequenced and analyzed, but mutations with functional implications were not identified. Subsequently, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) of CHHS were examined for GDK functionality. CHHS-TIL were compared to their functional counterparts in canine cutaneous histiocytoma (CCH), a benign histiocytic tumor in dogs, known to regress via lymphocytic reaction. To facilitate such comparison, functionality of CCH-TIL was studied by immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy and quantified by image analysis applications. This provided novel insights regarding the physiology of TIL in tumor microenvironment and further characterizing CCH as a model for anti-tumor immunity. The comparison revealed a clear, and highly significant structural difference in polarization and degranulation of CHHS-TIL which likely hampers GDK. This defect is similar to several variants of FHL, an association further supported by comparison of clinical and laboratory manifestations of CHHS and FHL. This study suggests that CHHS is a promising natural model for investigating the pathogenesis of FHL, for studying granule polarization and degranulation and assessing the role of TIL in anti-cancer immunity. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my deep and sincere gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Robert Jacobs. Thank you for your faith, trust, and encouragement and for endless support; for allowing me to pick the paths and lead this research as I envision it. Thank you for always being both critical and constructive and for teaching me the beauty and wisdom of simplicity. Many thanks to my committee members : Dr. Darren Wood, Dr. Josepha DeLay, Dr. Brenda Coomber and Dr. Peter Moore for your advice and overall contribution throughout my work; special thanks goes to Dr. Moore for generously sharing DNA and tissue samples as well as knowledge and expertise regarding canine histiocytic diseases. Further special gratitude goes to Dr. DeLay and the excellent staff of AHL Histology, particularly Mrs. Susan Lapos who guided me through the witchcraft and spells of the world of immunohistochemistry. I am very thankful to all members of the legendary Lab 2160 and in particular Ms. Barb Jefferson, Ms. Bette Anne Quinn and Dr. Jutta Hamermueller. You have embraced me through hurdles and provided me with an exciting stimulating and, not less important, enjoyable working environment. Special thanks go to Mrs Barb Jefferson for being a valuable resource of knowledge and technical support but also an endless source of kindness and positivity. Thank you for smiles which melt the snow, clear the clouds and bring spring to the hearts even in the midst of a Canadian winter. Heartfelt thanks goes to James Jonkman, and the great team at the Advance Optical Microscopy facility at Princess Margaret Hospital and Toronto General Hospital. Thank you for remarkable training and excellent technical assistance in confocal microscopy. Special thanks go to Dr. Feng Xu, a confocal microscopy wizard, and the most patient man on earth. I am thankful to Dr. Dorothee Bienzle for granting me with the opportunity to enrol in the PhD program. I am further indebted to your mentorship throughout my training in Clinical Pathology; and I am grateful for being given the opportunity to learn from you. At the same time I would also like to thank to Dr. Jacobs, Dr. Wood, Dr. Ruotsalo Dr Reggeti Zapata and Dr. Hoff for contributing to my training as a Clinical Pathologist. It has been a i privilege and honour to learn from each and every one of you. I would also like to thank Dr. Brian Wilcock, an inspiring teacher and pathologist, for teaching me all that I know about histopathology and for generously providing a variety of tissue blocks needed for my work. I could not have done it without the administrative team to which I am grateful. I am particularly indebted to Mrs. Donna Kangas who helped me in countless occasions Many, many thanks for all my dear and precious friends how made my life in Guelph so special and enjoyable. Heartfelt gratitude goes to Dr. Wole Odemuyiwa, a dear friend and a phenomenal scientist. You were my guide and mentor in the fascinating world of granule polarization and scientific writing; through my first steps in the “world of work”, and for many, many other life and science skills. I have learned much from you and will always be so grateful that our paths have crossed. I am thankful for the Pet Trust foundation for generously funding this work. I am also thankful to the Bernese mountain dog breeders and owners who facilitated sample collections to this study, even in the most difficult times of mourning for their pet. I am hopeful that the work presented in this thesis will have beneficial implications on the health and wellbeing of dogs in general and particularly the Bernese mountain dog breed. Finally, I thank my family, my parents Yoav and Ester Neta who taught me that all is possible, my dear husband, best friend and partner on the journey Ram Samocha, and our daughters Alma and Gille. Thank you for your faith, endless support and sacrifice. Thank you for bringing so much joy to my life; your love and support made it all possible and worthwhile. ii DECLARATION OF WORK PERFORMED All work reported in this thesis was performed by me with the following exceptions: Rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) attempting to identify the an un-translated exon of the perforin gene was done by Mrs. Shery X. Wen The amino acids sequence of the immunogenic peptide which was utilized for the generation of the canine perforin antibody was selected by Dr. Paula Katavalos. Peptide synthesis, animal immunizations, generation and purification of the antibody were done by Pacific Immunology ((Ramona, CA, USA)) Some of the tissue collection and nucleic acid extraction were performed by Dr. Peter Moore and his lab staff. Dr. Feng Xu was involved and provided technical assistance for all of the confocal work. Mr. William Sears was involved in all statistical analysis. Mr. Ram Samocha was involved in Photoshop formatting of the figures in chapters 3 and 4 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... i Declaration of Work Performed ....................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................ iv List of Tables [if Any] ......................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures [If Any] ...................................................................................................................... vii List of Abreviations .......................................................................................................................... viii General Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. Literature Review ................................................................................................................................. 4 Hypothesis and Objectives ............................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 2. Structure and Sequence Variation of the Canine Perforin Gene ..................................................................................................................................... 35 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 36 Material and Methods .......................................................................................................... 39 Results .................................................................................................................................... 44 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 51 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 53 Chapter 3. In situ characterization of Cytotoxicity in Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes of Canine Cutanous Histiocytoma ....................................................................................................................