PINTO-DISSERTATION-2014.Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
In vitro assays and zebrafish as an in vivo model to study nuclear receptor signaling _______________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Biology and Biochemistry University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________ By Caroline Lucia Pinto August, 2014 In vitro assays and zebrafish as an in vivo model to study nuclear receptor signaling _________________________ Caroline Lucia Pinto APPROVED: __________________________ Dr. Jan-Åke Gustafsson, Ph.D. Committee Chair ___________________________ Dr. Maria Bondesson Bolin, Ph.D. ___________________________ Dr. Robert Fox, Ph.D. ___________________________ Dr. Joseph Eichberg, Ph.D. ___________________________ Dr. Steven Bark, PhD. ___________________________ Dr. Paul Webb, PhD. _________________________ Dr. Dan Wells, Ph.D. Dean, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics ii Acknowledgements This achievement would not have been possible without the help and encouragement from many people that I was blessed to meet during my Ph.D. I would like to start by thanking the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at University of Houston for allowing me to join the Ph.D. program, and be a part of this diverse academic community. I would like to thank Dr. Jan-Ake Gustafsson for the opportunity of joining the Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling (CNRCS) and for his guidance and support throughout my Ph.D. I am grateful to Dr. Maria Bondesson for her support, kindness and encouragement with my projects, and for guiding me to become an autonomous scientist. I thank Dr. Anne Riu for her guidance, patience and always well-appreciated discussions and criticism, and for fostering critical thinking in me. I know the work is actually good when you say “it’s not so bad”. My gratitude also goes to other present and previous zebrafish lab group members. I appreciate Dr. Catherine McCollum and Sharanya Kalasekar for their help, support, ideas and friendship. I thank Dr. Ruixin Hao and Dr. Nicole Ducharme for their help and advice, and Triet Truong, Nestor Narvaez, Juan Narvaez and Muzamil Haq for the zebrafish care and maintenance. I also appreciate having been given the opportunity to work side by side with our collaborator Dr. Patrick Balaguer (INSERM, Montpellier, France) during the three iii months that he spent in the CNRCS, and for his always available and continuous scientific help. I also thank our collaborators Dr. Cecilia Williams (CNRCS) for her contribution, and Dr. Eric Swindell (University of Texas) for his expertise and scientific input in the zebrafish eye studies. I would like to thank my committee members Dr. Robert Fox, Dr. Joseph Eichberg, Dr. Paul Webb and Dr. Steven Bark for their time and advice throughout my graduate studies. I would also like to thank previous and current members of the CNRCS who have shared some of their knowledge and helped me throughout my PhD: Dr. Margaret Warner, Dr. Stefan Andersson (in memorian), Dr. Daniel Frigo, Dr. Anders Ström, Dr. Shaun Zhang, Dr. Philip Jonsson, Dr. Chiara Gabbi, Dr. Rodrigo Barros, Gayani Rajapaksa, Kim Anthony, Jeff Spencer, Dr. Armando Rivera, Dr. Yubing Dai, Dr. Laure Maneix, Dr. Anne Katchy, Dr. Wanfu Wu, Bilqees Bhatti, Kaberi Das, Christopher Brooks, Dr. Prasenjit Dey, Dr. Selvaraj Muthusamy, Fotis Nikolos and Igor Bado. I appreciate Odila Crandall, Roy Green, Sol Gomez and Heidi Vitrac for their friendship and support. Lastly, I would like to thank my mother Gladis, my sister Cristiane and brother Fabio for their unconditional support and for always letting me “fly” away. This dissertation is dedicated to my dear father, who would certainly be very proud to see me reach this milestone. iv In vitro assays and zebrafish as an in vivo model to study nuclear receptor signaling _______________ An Abstract of a Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Biology and Biochemistry University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________ By Caroline Lucia Pinto August, 2014 v Abstract Humans are exposed daily to cocktails of chemicals from different sources. Some of these chemicals can interfere with hormonal signaling, and are referred to as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). A mechanism through which EDCs may act is by binding and modulating the activity of nuclear receptors (NRs), which could lead to adverse health outcomes, especially during critical developmental windows, such as fetal development and perinatal life. As we are exposed to chemical cocktails, there is an increased concern regarding adverse effects resulting from exposures to combinations of EDCs. Mixture effects of bisphenol A and phytoestrogens, well-known xenoestrogens, were assessed in transactivation assays mediated by the estrogen receptors (ERs) and in MCF-7 cell proliferation assays. We observed additive effects with a combination of nanomolar concentrations of these chemicals, levels that are relevant to human exposure. Another major concern is the need to refine, reduce and replace animal models, and zebrafish have been used as an alternative in vivo model. However, to support zebrafish for risk assessment of EDCs, it is crucial to evaluate the transcriptional activity/selectivity of mammalian NR ligands towards their zebrafish homologues. By using stable reporter cell lines expressing human or zebrafish NRs, we observed clear differences in the selectivity/activity of ER and peroxisome-proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPAR) ligands between human and their zebrafish counterparts, demonstrating the importance of assessing the transcriptional profile of EDCs prior to using them in vivo. vi Liver X receptors (LXRs), also NRs, are key regulators of lipid and cholesterol metabolism in mammals. Transcriptomic analysis of zebrafish larvae treated with the mammalian LXR agonists T0901317 and GW3965, also activators of zebrafish LXR, revealed a primary role of LXR in regulating lipid metabolism and transport during zebrafish development. Tissue enrichment analysis predicted the liver, the yolk syncytial layer and the eye to be affected by LXR activation in zebrafish, which correlated with increased lipid uptake from the yolk, and with morphological abnormalities in the retina and lens of developing zebrafish. The expression of important genes for eye development and maintenance of photoreceptors, was modulated in zebrafish exposed to the ligands as well as in LXR knockout mice, revealing, for the first time, a new potential physiological role of LXRs in regulating expression of gene networks important for visual function in vertebrates. vii Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Nuclear Hormone Receptor Superfamily ................................................................ 2 1.1.1 Estrogen Receptors .......................................................................................... 6 1.1.2 Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor (PPAR).................................. 8 1.1.3 Liver X Receptors (LXRs) .............................................................................. 9 1.2 Endocrine disruptors ............................................................................................. 13 1.2.1 EDCs targeting estrogen receptors (ERs) ...................................................... 15 1.2.2 EDCs targeting peroxisome proliferator activated-receptor (PPAR)........ 18 1.2.3 EDCs targeting Liver X Receptors (LXRs) .................................................. 19 1.3 In vitro and in vivo models to assess the effects of EDCs targeting NRs ............. 21 1.3.1 In vitro assays for EDC screening ................................................................. 22 1.3.2 In vivo assays for EDC screening .................................................................. 25 1.3.3 Toxicogenomics ............................................................................................ 27 1.4 Zebrafish as an alternative model organism ......................................................... 28 1.4.1 Zebrafish as a model for developmental studies ........................................... 29 1.4.2 Zebrafish as a model for toxicological studies and chemical screens targeting NRs ......................................................................................................................... 30 1.5 Project aims and objectives ................................................................................... 33 Chapter 2. Materials and Methods .............................................................................. 35 2.1 Chemicals and materials ....................................................................................... 36 2.2 Cell lines ............................................................................................................... 37 2.2.1 HELN reporter cells stably expressing hERs and zfERs .............................. 37 2.2.2 HG5LN reporter cells expressing GAL4-hPPAR/zfPPAR/zfLXR chimeras ................................................................................................................................ 38 2.2.3 Human breast cancer MCF-7 cells ................................................................ 41 2.3 Luciferase reporter assays ..................................................................................... 41 2.4 MCF-7 Cell