Les hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques dans l'environnement : la réhabilitation des anciens sites industriels The Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Environment : the Former Industrial Sites Remediation

Les hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques ou HAP peuvent être d'origine naturelle mais ils proviennent principalement des processus de pyrolyse. On peut les retrouver dans les sols de certains anciens sites industriels. Cela peut être le cas des sites d'anciennes usines à gaz. Même si aucune conséquence sur la santé humaine n'a été signalée et même si les risques paraissent virtuels, le principe de précaution rend nécessaire de s'occuper des risques liés à ces anciens sites industriels. Gaz de France, propriétaire de 467 sites d'anciennes usines à gaz assume l'héritage industriel dans le cadre d'un protocole signé avec le ministère de l'Environnement. Après une étude des sols, une évaluation des risques est réalisée. En fonction des résultats de cette évaluation des risques et de l'usage du site (actuel et prévu), des solutions de traitement peuvent être mises en Suvre. Parmi les techniques applicables aux sols pollués par des HAP, un intérêt particulier s'est porté sur les traitements biologiques, en pleine évolution, qui offrent une solution économique bien adaptée au traitement de grands volumes de sols souillés par une pollution organique moyennement concentrée. <br> Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be found under natural conditions but they can be produced by pyrolysis processes. They can be found in former industrial sites subsoil, especially on Manufactured Gas Plant sites (MGP sites). Gaz de France has inherited the patrimony of former French gas companies on nationalisation in 1946; consequently, Gaz De France is still the owner of 467 of manufactured gas plants. Even if no impact on human health has been detected and even if the risks seem to be virtual, Gaz de France has to prevent any environmental consequence due to the possible presence of residues in the subsoil of the sites: a protocol has been signed with the French Ministry of Environment. Following the investigations on the site, a risk assessment, which takes into account the future use of the site, is achieved. The definition of remediation and monitoring of the site is based on risk assessment; the pollution is treated on the basis of specifications defined in accordance with public authorities. Biotreatments are potentially the most well adapted techniques to remediate big volumes of low or medium contaminated soils

Cell-Cell Fusion Induced by Measles Virus Amplifies the Type I Interferon Response▿ †

Measles virus (MeV) infection is characterized by the formation of multinuclear giant cells (MGC). We report that beta interferon (IFN-β) production is amplified in vitro by the formation of virus-induced MGC derived from human epithelial cells or mature conventional dendritic cells. Both fusion and IFN-β response amplification were inhibited in a dose-dependent way by a fusion-inhibitory peptide after MeV infection of epithelial cells. This effect was observed at both low and high multiplicities of infection. While in the absence of virus replication, the cell-cell fusion mediated by MeV H/F glycoproteins did not activate any IFN-α/β production, an amplified IFN-β response was observed when H/F-induced MGC were infected with a nonfusogenic recombinant chimerical virus. Time lapse microscopy studies revealed that MeV-infected MGC from epithelial cells have a highly dynamic behavior and an unexpected long life span. Following cell-cell fusion, both of the RIG-I and IFN-β gene deficiencies were trans complemented to induce IFN-β production. Production of IFN-β and IFN-α was also observed in MeV-infected immature dendritic cells (iDC) and mature dendritic cells (mDC). In contrast to iDC, MeV infection of mDC induced MGC, which produced enhanced amounts of IFN-α/β. The amplification of IFN-β production was associated with a sustained nuclear localization of IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3) in MeV-induced MGC derived from both epithelial cells and mDC, while the IRF-7 up-regulation was poorly sensitive to the fusion process. Therefore, MeV-induced cell-cell fusion amplifies IFN-α/β production in infected cells, and this indicates that MGC contribute to the antiviral immune response

Adult duct-lining cells can reprogram into β-like cells able to counter repeated cycles of toxin-induced diabetes.

It was recently demonstrated that embryonic glucagon-producing cells in the pancreas can regenerate and convert into insulin-producing β-like cells through the constitutive/ectopic expression of the Pax4 gene. However, whether α cells in adult mice display the same plasticity is unknown. Similarly, the mechanisms underlying such reprogramming remain unclear. We now demonstrate that the misexpression of Pax4 in glucagon+ cells age-independently induces their conversion into β-like cells and their glucagon shortage-mediated replacement, resulting in islet hypertrophy and in an unexpected islet neogenesis. Combining several lineage-tracing approaches, we show that, upon Pax4-mediated α-to-β-like cell conversion, pancreatic duct-lining precursor cells are continuously mobilized, re-express the developmental gene Ngn3, and successively adopt a glucagon+ and a β-like cell identity through a mechanism involving the reawakening of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Importantly, these processes can repeatedly regenerate the whole β cell mass and thereby reverse several rounds of toxin-induced diabetes, providing perspectives to design therapeutic regenerative strategies