Browsing by study line "Molecular and Analytical Health Biosciences"

Adeno-Associated Viruses (AAVs) are quickly becoming one of the most applied vectors for gene therapy applications. In the recent years three new AAV-based gene therapies have been approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA). The regulatory bodies require accurate and reliable characterisation of the clinical grade viral vectors during and after production. Analytic methods measuring the purity, potency and safety of the product support the up-stream and down-stream processes during the production and are used for final-drug substance characterisation. Median Tissue Culture Infectious Dose (TCID50) is a well-established method for measuring the infectious titer of a virus. Here, an assay for determining the infectious titer of AAVs, which has previously been used to characterise the existing AAV2 Reference Standard Material (AAV2RSM) was set up and optimised for research use at Kuopio Center for Gene and Cell Therapy (KCT). The assay utilizes the HeRC32-cell line, a HeLa clone, that stably expresses AAV Rep and Cap -proteins and in presence of adenovirus, enables the replication of recombinant AAV-vectors. The cells were grown in 96-well plates and infected with 10-fold dilution series of AAV vectors (AAV2 and AAV6) using human adenovirus type 5 as the co-infector. 72 hours post infection the vector genome replication of AAV was detected with quantitative PCR (qPCR). Thresholds for qPCR determined copy number and cycle threshold (Ct) were set and used for the determination of infection-positive wells. The 50-percent endpoint was observed and used to calculate the infectious titer according to the Spearman-Kärber method. The assay was set up and optimised with the AAV2 Reference standard material (AAV2RSM) using two different primer-probe sets (targeted sequences were; SV40 polyadenylation signal and AAV inverted terminal repeats (ITRs)). Plates infected with AAV2RSM were analysed separately with both primers resulting in mean infectious titers of 8.07 ± 3.13 x 108 TCID50 Infectious Units (IU) / mL (n = 9) and 1.27 ± 0.464 x 109 TCID50 IU/mL (n = 9) for SV40 and ITR, respectively. After the assay was set up with the AAV2RSM, an in-house AAV6 product was analysed with the ITR primers yielding 6.09 ± 3.94 x 109 TCID50 (IU) / mL (n = 5). The assay protocol was successfully set up for research use at the KCT laboratory. Improvements were added to the original protocol to increase assay robustness, accuracy and precision as well as to minimize the possibility of over-estimation of the infectious titer. The assay can be further optimised for a particular therapeutic AAV product in the research laboratory or technology transferred to a production facility for optimisation and validation for the analytics needs of a production pipeline.

Formation of template switching mutation has previously been proposed as a mechanism of RNA evolution. TSM mechanism may contribute to the creation, maintenance, and modification of the RNA Hairpin. The finding of de novo TSM in RNA sequences will provide evidence for this hypothesis. Ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) appear in multicopy clusters on different chromosomes and evolve through concerted evolution. To study the properties of de novo TSM and the dynamics of the concerted evolution of rRNA, we developed a computational tool to analyze pairwise differences and the phylogenetic relationship of rRNA genes on different chromosomes. The genome assemblies that are based on traditional short-read sequencing methods have limitations on studying long tandem repeat rDNA, because the reading length is shorter than on the rRNA gene. To overcome this limitation. PacBio Hifi long-read sequencing data for human rRNA 18S and 28S genes were studied. By analyzing the diversity of rRNA genes between individuals and families, single nucleotide mutations, multiple nucleotide insertions, and deletions were identified. As expected, genetic variations in ribosomal genes were detected both within and between individuals. A larger sample size may be required for TSM identification. The finding of this research that related to the dynamics and concerted evolution of human rRNA may contribute to a better understanding of rRNA mutation-related genetic disorders.

Lynch syndrome (LS) is the most common cancer predisposition disease caused by dominantly inherited pathogenic variant (PV) of a mismatch repair (MMR) gene leading to a defective gene allele. The four major MMR genes encode MMR proteins – MSH2, MSH6, MLH1 ja PMS2 – that participate in the proofreading and repairing of the daughter strand for mismatches after every replication. The inherited PVs predispose to cancer development as only one somatic allele loss is required for biallelic loss according to the Knudson’s “two-hit” hypothesis. The biallelic loss of an MMR-gene leads to disrupted protein function altering the MMR process. When mismatches are left unrepaired, genomic instability is caused, which can eventually lead to tumorigenesis. Especially, the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and endometrial cancer (EC) is increased in LS. The predisposition syndrome, LS, is important to detect as early as possible to decrease the risk of cancer by prevention and surveillance. The MMR genes and their defects vary in their consequences to the repair process considerably, and thus, it is crucial to know the different characteristics and functional effects of them when estimating the level of cancer risk. Variants of uncertain significance (VUS) are especially prevalent among LS variants. More information about their impact to the disease can be acquired by in vitro and in silico methods, for instance. The main goal of the efforts for early detection and prevention is to reduce cancer morbidity and mortality. In this thesis, the pathogenicities of MSH2 and MSH6 variants were studied with DiagMMR assay, which has been developed for studying the protein function of these genes. In addition to the traditional agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE), the samples were also analyzed by a fragment analyzer, Labchip, that bases its function on capillary electrophoresis. This way the MMR detection efficiency of the methods could be compared. Samples were collected as skin biopsies from controls and LS patients with known MMR gene variants by Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH). InSiGHT database, that collects the different MMR-gene variants and their pathogenicity classification, was used to ensure that different kinds of variations, both pathogenic (class 5) and currently internationally unlisted variants, were analysed. The skin samples were cultured to acquire primary fibroblasts for nuclear protein extraction. The level of pathogenicity was revealed by MMR-protein activity when substrate DNA with a mismatch was added to the extract. Then, restriction enzymes were used for producing fragments of different lengths, depending on the repair action, and the MMR efficiency was visualized by both electrophoretic methods. Additionally, MAPP-MMR tool was used for studying the MSH2 mismatch variants in silico. By comparing the results from these two methods, we show that the more quantitative Labchip brings diagnostic value to DiagMMR suggesting 100% specificity (n=10) and 90,9% (n=11) sensitivity in reference to the variant information. For example, MSH6 c.3103C>T, which is listed as pathogenic in InSiGHT, was more consistent in giving a MMR deficient (dMMR) result with Labchip. Difference in the functional detection could be seen particularly with the MSH6 variants, but the differences were less notable when Labchip results were compared to the previous interpretations of the samples made based on the validated DiagMMR protocol. With the unlisted MSH6 variants, c.3139dupT was detected as dMMR by Labchip which was in unison with the previous interpretation. Another one, MSH6 c.551delA, was seen as MMR proficient (pMMR) in all the results by both the methods, and with the previous interpretation being unclear, which highlights the importance of further testing of this variant. There was also one unlisted variant (c.1805T>C) among MSH2 for which we got uniform dMMR results in two patients. The high MAPP-MMR score (25.150) for the MSH2 p.Leu602Pro amino acid change also supported the evidence gained of the pathogenic nature of this variant. As a conclusion, DiagMMR can be used reliably for MMR efficiency analysis, especially when performed together with a more quantitative analysis method.

Mature T-cell leukemias/lymphomas (MaTCLs) represent a rare and clinically heterogenous group of diseases that vary from indolent stages to aggressive malignancies with very limited therapy options due to the resistance development against conventional chemotherapies. T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL) is the most common subtype of MaTCLs and was therefore selected as a model disease to study the genetic mechanisms leading to the resistance development with eight clinically relevant cancer drugs. In this Master’s thesis genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 knock-out screen with Brunello lentiviral library was used to study genetic aberrations that could induce resistance or sensitivity towards the selected cancer drugs. Two main pathways were enriched in multiple drug conditions including p53 regulating genes as well as epigenetic regulation, suggesting these pathways could be related to resistance development mechanisms. p53 pathway is dysregulated in most cancer types and therefore it can also be seen as a positive control of the screen. Epigenetic modulations play an important role regulating cell proliferation and genes related to this pathway are frequently altered in MaTCL patients. The screening results show enrichment of epigenetic regulation and suggest that it has a role in drug resistance development. This thesis work included results only from one genome-wide screening experiment and in the future is important to compare the findings with replicate screen results as well as with other cell lines to confirm the findings. In addition, validation of the most biologically interesting genes should be performed, most optimally in primary cells.

Abstract Faculty: Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences Degree programme: Genetics and Molecular Biosciences Study track: Molecular and Analytical Health Biosciences Author: Annie Stendahl Title: Measurement repeatability of flow cytometry and nanoparticle tracking analysis for optimization of extracellular vesicle measurements Level: Master’s thesis Month and year: 11/2022 Number of pages: 92 Keywords: extracellular vesicles, repeatability measurements, metrology, traceability, flow cytometry, nanoparticle tracking analysis, reference material, METVES Supervisor or supervisors: Virpi Korpelainen, Katariina Maaninka and Pia Siljander Collaborative partner: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. Where deposited: E-thesis Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid bilayer-enclosed vesicles secreted by all cells, containing variable cargo from nucleic acids and proteins to carbohydrates, metabolites, and lipids. EVs are considered to be involved in many physiological and pathological cell functions. Due to their presence in biofluids hence enabling semi-invasive liquid biopsies, EVs have indicated great promise for utilization as biomarkers in clinical settings. The innate properties of EVs and their cargo could also be harnessed into therapeutic use. However, the current methods and reference materials for determining EV concentration and size have not yet achieved the metrological level of repeatability and traceability, which is needed for EV measurements to be utilized in clinical settings. The aim of this thesis project was to evaluate repeatability of the methods typically used for EV quantification and size determination, flow cytometry (FCM) and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). The repeatability was analyzed with reference material made of hollow organosilica beads and biological EV test samples, both developed in an ongoing EU metrology-project METVES II for EVs. A similar biological EV test sample was also prepared as part of the thesis project. Finally, the repeatability measurements were conducted with calibration beads recommended by the instrument manufacturers. The calibration beads gave repeatable results with FCM and one of the two NTA instruments tested, but neither the reference beads nor the biological EV test samples produced repeatable results to enable determination of repeatability. However, valuable understanding was gained on what can be optimized during the measurements and operation of the instruments to generate more repeatable results with FCM and NTA in EV analysis. Prior knowledge of both the sample type and method used for measuring would enable optimization of the measurement and instrument operation. Whether the aim is EV quantification or size determination, instrument errors and bias could then be minimized by adjusting the settings according to sample type. Furthermore, EV quantification and size determination would benefit from combining different methods to ensure more reliable and repeatable results. It is clear that more research needs to be done, for i.e., the tested reference beads need to be further developed to be established as EV reference material and enabling standardization of EV measurements. Standardizing EV quantification and size determination is required to achieve metrological repeatability and ultimately, traceability, and thus for EVs to be utilized in clinical settings as biomarkers or therapeutic use.

Growth Differentiation Factor-15 (GDF15) is a neurotrophic factor associated with anorexia and weight loss. It is elevated in obesity and various diseases. It signals by forming a tripartite complex with the coreceptor Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) family receptor alpha-like (GFRAL) and the receptor Rearranged during transfection (RET). Targeting this pathway has therapeutic potential for the treatment of obesity and anorexia-cachexia syndrome, but many aspects are still unclear. What is the affinity of binding between these proteins? Does GDF15 induce dose- and time-dependent RET phosphorylation and activate intracellular signaling pathways, and are there differences between GDF15 and GDNF signaling, as the different bend angles of their complexes suggest? Can soluble GDF15-GFRAL mediate the effects of GDF15 outside of the brainstem, and what is the function of the short cytoplasmic domain of GFRAL? Furthermore, how well is the pathway evolutionally conserved between species? Binding affinities were assessed with microscale thermophoresis, whereas RET phosphorylation and intracellular signaling assays were performed utilizing immunoprecipitation and western blotting. GFRAL-RET binding is low-affinity (350 nM ± 223) similarly to GFRα1-RET binding (GDNF family receptor alpha-1), whereas GDF15-RET binding without GFRAL does not occur. GDF15 appears to compete for binding to GFRAL or RET, differing from GDNF mechanisms, but noise in the data may have affected the results. The data provide ideas about the ligand-receptor complex formation. Furthermore, RET phosphorylation by GDF15 is dose- and time-dependent. Firstly, the strongest RET and ERK activation occur at GDF15 concentrations typical of disease states. Secondly, RET activation by GDF15 is rapid and sustained like by GDNF activation, whereas ERK activation by GDF15 is rapid and much more transient than by GDNF. Thirdly, AKT activation by GDF15 is much weaker than by GDNF. The differences may be caused by different conformations of binding surfaces for adaptor proteins being available on RET because the bend angles of the complexes are different. Moreover, soluble GDF15-GFRAL does not activate RET, although soluble GDNF-GFRα1 does. Also, the short cytoplasmic domain of GFRAL is not necessary for activating AKT and ERK pathways, but may be needed to activate RET. Furthermore, GDF15 from cynomolgus monkey, but not rat or mouse, activates RET with human GFRAL, indicating sequence similarity in the active site of GDF15. In conclusion, novel aspects of GDF15 signaling and differences between GDF15 and GDNF signaling were discovered.

Suuresta tarpeesta huolimatta, ei työvälineitä geeniekspression endogeeniseen säätelyyn ole nykypäivänä tarjolla lääketieteellisiin eikä tutkimuksellisiinkaan tarkoituksiin. Vuonna 2017 karakterisoitiin uuden CRISPR-Cas tyypin VI kompleksit. Nämä kompleksit hyödyntävät endonukleaasiaktiivisuudessaan uudenlaista Cas13 -efektoria, jonka kohteena toimii yksijuosteiset RNA-molekyylit. Cas13 tunnistaa kohteensa opas-RNA:n (gRNA) avulla. Tätä komplementaarisuutta hyödyntämällä on onnistuttu kohdistamaan Cas13:n aktiivisuus spesifisiin lähetti-RNA molekyyleihin nisäkässolukokeissa ilman kohde-RNA:n ulkopuolisia hajoamistuotteita. Tämän lisäksi nukleaasiinaktivoituja Cas13 efektoreita (dCas13) on käytetty esimerkiksi kohdennettuun nukleotidien deaminaatioon ja vaihtoehtoisen silmikoinnin indusointiin. Tämä todistaa dCas13 efektorien kyvyn toimia ohjelmoitavina apuproteiineina, joiden avulla voidaan ohjata kompleksiin liitetyn proteiinin toiminta spesifisille kohde-RNA:n alueille. Tässä tutkimuksessa, kaksi eukaryoottien translaatioon osallistuvaa proteiinia, ELAVL1 ja EIF4E, yhdistettiin dCas13b efektorin kanssa C- ja N-terminaalisesti, tarkoituksena lisätä kohteena olevan lähetti-RNA:n ekspressiota parantamalla tämän translatiivisuutta tai stabiliteettia. Koeasetelmassa vertailtiin näiden neljän fuusioproteiinin sekä aktiivisen Cas13b:n vaikutusta lusiferaasin ekspressioon käyttäen kuutta eri gRNA:ta aktivaation ohjaamisessa. Kokeet suoritettiin in vitro ympäristössä HEK293T-soluissa. Natiivi Cas13b vähensi merkittävästi lusiferaasisignaalia, kun taas samassa asetelmassa C-terminaalinen dCas13b-ELAVL1 fuusio lisäsi tätä tilastollisesti merkittävästi eli aikaansai kasvaneen lusiferaasiekspression. Vastaavaa vaikutusta ei ollut havaittavissa muissa fuusioproteiineissa. Tulokset todistavat onnistuneen Cas13b-välitteisen degradaation, sekä dCas13bELAVL1-välitteisen lisääntyneen lusiferaasitranskriptin translaation. Jatkotutkimusta vaaditaan fuusioproteiinin toiminnallisuuden ja varsinaisen kohteen ulkopuolisen aktiivisuuden määrityksessä. Siitä huolimatta tutkimuksessa esitelty fuusoproteiinikonstrukti voisi hyvin olla toimiva työkalu geeniekspression spesifin lisäyksen mahdollistamisessa endogeenisessa kontekstissa

SerpinE2 is a serine protease inhibitor (serpin) family protein that inhibits several extracellular proteases, such as thrombin, urokinase-type plasminogen activator and trypsin. Proteases and their inhibitors are often involved in cancer. SerpinE2 transcripts are upregulated in several cancers and found to predict poor prognosis of cancer patients. However, such studies regarding protein levels of serpinE2 are scarce. In this study, serpinE2 protein was analysed in three urological cancers, with patient groups that address the greatest needs for clinical biomarkers. The major aim of this study was to examine the association of serpinE2 staining with patient survival and clinicopathological features in prostate, urinary bladder and kidney cancers, and to evaluate its usability as an immunohistochemical biomarker. Tissue microarray slides from cancer patient tissues were stained immunohistochemically for serpinE2. The staining intensity was scored with four-point scale from 0 (no staining) to 3 (very intensive staining). Prostate and kidney cancer patients had been treated surgically and some of the cancers had relapsed after the surgery. In bladder cancer, association of serpinE2 with treatment response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy was evaluated. SerpinE2 expression was also measured in two prostate cancer cell lines with quantitative PCR and Western blotting. The serpinE2 staining was observed both in cancer cells and epithelial structures of benign tissues. The results showed that cancer tissue serpinE2 is not associated with relapse, treatment response or survival in prostate and bladder cancer patients. However, serpinE2 staining was more pronounced in prostate cancer tissues compared with benign tissues adjacent to cancer, and, surprisingly, the staining in such benign tissues was stronger in tissues from patients who developed metastases after surgery as compared to those without detectable metastases during 10.3-year (median) follow-up (p = 0.017). In addition, higher serpinE2 staining intensity was observed in higher grade bladder cancers (p = 0.034). In kidney cancer, on the other hand, serpinE2 staining intensity was significantly lower in patients whose cancer relapsed (p = 0.048), and high intensity predicted favourable disease-specific survival (p = 0.013). To conclude, serpinE2 is worth of further investigation in urological cancers. In prostate cancer, the possible field effect of cancer on serpinE2 in adjacent benign tissues could be examined more closely. In kidney cancer, the impact of serpinE2 on patient survival was inverse compared to transcript data in the Cancer Genome Atlas/the Human Protein Atlas database, and most other cancers. Thus, further validation studies need to be performed, and if the results hold true, serpinE2 staining could be used as part of a prognostic model predicting kidney cancer-specific survival.

Pathogenic variants in BRCA-associated protein 1 (BAP1) cause BAP1 tumour predisposition syndrome (BAP1-TPDS) with increased risk of several cancers including uveal melanoma (UM). UM originates from the melanocytes of the choroid, iris or ciliary body in the eye. UM is a rare cancer with a high metastatic rate and is usually seen in Caucasian people. BAP1 is a deubiquitinating enzyme and to function as a tumour suppressor it needs to retain enzymatic activity. To retain its enzymatic activity, it needs a functioning UCH-domain and nuclear localisation signal. Loss of function variants in BAP1 are easily interpreted as pathogenic, however, many missense variants remain as unclear on their status of pathogenicity. We aimed to study the enzymatic activity of missense variants in the UCH domain of BAP1. We selected 22 missense variants near or in the BAP1 UCH domain (aa1-240). Nineteen were identified in patients with UM and three rare variants from gnomAD database detected in the general population. The variants were cloned to a bacterial expression vector and expressed as a GST-fusion protein. Then we assayed the purified proteins for their ability to cleave ubiquitin. Ten patient derived variants reduced the deubiquitinating activity of BAP1. Seven mutants with variants from patients with familial BAP1-TPDS, retained <20% of their activity. Three variants previously classified as Variant of unknown significance (VUS) and one pathogenic decreased the activity to half. The function of twelve variants was interpreted as normal (80-120%). Of these, two were previously interpreted as pathogenic. Functional studies are needed for accurate BAP1 missense variant classification. Although BAP1 variants are dominant, penetrance might be affected by variants effect on enzymatic activity and patients with pathogenic variants might not exhibit familial BAP1 -TPDS. If enzymatic activity is retained and patient exhibits familial BAP1-TPDS, further studies need to be conducted on effects on splicing and protein-protein interactions. However, if patient exhibits only familial UM and harbours a BAP1 VUS with normal activity, other genes predisposing to UM should be considered.

Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract The mTORC1 (mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1) protein kinase is a master regulator of cell growth. In the presence of environmental cues, such as nutrients and growth factor, mTORC1 is transported to the lysosome where it is activated by a small GTPase Rheb. Dysregulation of mTORC1 has been linked to several diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration. Despite our growing understanding of the nutrient-driven activation mechanism of mTORC1, we still do not fully understand how nutrients are transported out of the lysosome or how nutrient sensing is connected to nutrient transport. Recently, SLC38A9, a small lysosomal transmembrane protein, was identified as a mediator of the efflux of essential amino acids from the lysosome to the cytosol. It also acts as an amino acid sensor for mTORC1, playing a role in its activation. Due to poorly vascularized tumor cores, cancers such as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, have access to very scarce amounts of free nutrients. Consequently, they rely on scavenging of protein macromolecules from the extracellular environment, followed by digestion inside lysosomes. The digested nutrients are released to the cytosol via transporters such as SLC38A9 and activate the mTORC1 pathway which carries out the growth processes. In fact, recent studies in mouse xenograft models have shown a severely slowed down growth of PDAC tumors with SLC38A9 knocked out. Blocking of SLC38A9 activity with pharmacologics or biologics would prevent the release of digested amino acids from the lysosomes, starving cancer cells of nutrients, while sparing normal cells that do not feed on extracellular proteins. However, SLC38A9 is still poorly understood, and development of selective inhibitors first requires mechanistic understanding of the protein and knowing what its binding pockets look like. In order to obtain this information, we aimed to determine the three-dimensional structure of SLC38A9 through cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). However, two significant challenges hindered our ability to obtain high-resolution images of this membrane protein: (i) its small size, and (ii) its constant conformational changes. To address this, I proceeded to develop a set of nanobodies that would bind SLC38A9 with high affinity and specificity. Nanobodies allow for locking of target proteins in specific conformational states, and they can also serve as chaperones for visualizing proteins in cryo-EM. To obtain these nanobodies, I used a library of 100 million unique nanobodies, displayed on the surface of yeast cells. Specific SLC38A9 binder nanobodies were obtained through multiple rounds of selection and sorting, using decreasing concentrations of fluorescently- labeled SLC38A9. After the final selection round, single colonies were picked and the strength of binding to SLC38A9 was evaluated. High-throughput screening results showed that we were able to obtain specific SLC38A9 binders and that there was variation in binding strength among the selected nanobodies. These nanobodies will enable the determination of the cryo-EM structure of SLC38A9 and also serve as tools to further dissect the function and mechanisms of SLC38A9 in amino-acid efflux from lysosomes to cytosol, providing further insights for the development of novel cancer therapeutics.