Exploration transcriptomique et logique de la voie TLR4 dans le contexte physiopathologique du sepsis

Sepsis is a syndrome observed in patients combining a documented infection (microbiologically or clinically suspected) with a systemic inflammatory response (Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome : SIRS). It may progress to severe sepsis if it is associated with failures of one or more organs. Septic shock is the combination of a severe sepsis and a hemodynamic dysfunction characterized by an acute fall in blood pressure that cannot be corrected by a procedure of vascular filling.Sepsis syndromes represent today the first cause of mortality in intensive care units around the world. This poor survival rate, in particular for the most severe cases, such as septic shock, testifies a real curative therapeutic demand.Based on the assumption that severe sepsis syndromes are the consequence of a loss of control in early mechanisms of inflammatory response regulation, we studied via two complementary approaches the initiation of TLR4 signaling pathway and the intracellular mechanisms contributing to its regulation.First, the use of transcriptomic approaches allowed us to identify the mTOR signaling pathway as discriminating between healthy patients (SIRS induced by the infusion of endotoxins) and patients with severe septic syndromes. We then developed and used logic modeling approaches to in silico simulate the role played by the mTOR signaling pathway in the resolution of an inflammatory response. These encouraging results open perspectives for new therapeutic applications in the field of sepsis