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An improved system for ribonuclease Ba expression.

The extracellular ribonuclease from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (barnase, RNase Ba) is a well-characterized enzyme extensively used in structure-function studies. A new system for efficient expression and purification of barnase has been developed. The strong regulated expression cassette with the Pr promoter of lambda phage and the cooperative expression of barnase and barstar under its control have been applied to expression of these proteins in Escherichia coli. The expression cassette containing the Pr promoter of E. coli lambda phage under cI repressor regulation and the nucleotide sequence coding for barnase and barstar structural genes were merged into the plasmid pTN441, which was used for large-scale barnase production. The phoA signal peptide was used to express the target protein into cell periplasm. The purification of RNase Ba was carried out in two steps: the initial sample was concentrated followed by RP-HPLC. The system provides a stable yield of homogeneous protein of about 100-150 mg per liter of culture medium.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Characterization of human type III collagen expressed in a baculovirus system. Production of a protein with a stable triple helix requires coexpression with the two types of recombinant prolyl 4-hydroxylase subunit.

An efficient expression system for recombinant collagens would have numerous scientific and practical applications. Nevertheless, most recombinant systems are not suitable for this purpose, as they do not have sufficient amounts of prolyl 4-hydroxylase activity. Pro-alpha 1 chains of human type III collagen expressed in insect cells by a baculovirus vector are reported here to contain significant amounts of 4-hydroxyproline and to form triple-helical molecules, although the Tm of the triple helices was only about 32-34 degrees C. Coexpression of the pro-alpha1(III) chains with the alpha and beta subunits of human prolyl 4-hydroxylase increased the Tm to about 40 degrees C, provided that ascorbate was added to the culture medium. The level of expression of type III procollagen was also increased in the presence of the recombinant prolyl 4-hydroxylase, and the pro-alpha 1(III) chains and alpha1(III) chains were found to be present in disulfide-bonded molecules. Most of the triple-helical collagen produced was retained within the insect cells and could be extracted from the cell pellet. The highest expression levels were obtained in High Five cells, which produced up to about 80 microg of cellular type III collagen (120 microg of procollagen) per 5 X 10(6) cells in monolayer culture and up to 40 mg/liter of cellular type III collagen (60 mg/liter procollagen) in suspension. The 4-hydroxyproline content and Tm of the purified recombinant type III collagen were very similar to those of the nonrecombinant protein, but the hydroxylysine content was slightly lower, being about 3 residues/1000 in the former and 5/1000 in the latter.

Animals↗

Lentiviral vector expression of tumour antigens in dendritic cells as an immunotherapeutic strategy.

Therapeutic cancer vaccines need to stimulate a refractory immune system to make an effective anti-tumour response. We have explored the use of lentiviral vectors to deliver tumour antigen genes to dendritic cells (DC) as a possible mechanism of immune stimulation. Direct injection of a lentiviral vector encoding the melanoma antigen NY-ESO-1 in HLA-A2 transgenic mice primed NY-ESO-1-specific CD8+ cells that could be expanded by boosting with an NY-ESO-1 vaccinia virus. The expanded cells could kill NY-ESO-1(157-165) peptide-pulsed targets in vivo. In order to examine the priming step directly, we constructed another lentiviral vector expressing the melanoma antigen Melan-A (MART-1). Here we show that Melan-A protein is also efficiently expressed after transduction of human DC cultured from peripheral blood mononuclear cells. When these transduced DC are co-cultured with autologous naïve T cells, they cause the expansion of cells that recognise the HLA-A2 restricted Melan-A(27-35) epitope. The expanded cells are functional in that they release IFN-gamma upon antigen stimulation. Melan-A lentiviral vector transduced DC caused a similar level of naïve T-cell expansion to Melan-A(27-35) peptide-pulsed DC in four experiments using different HLA-A2 positive donors. These data suggest that a vaccine based either on DC transduced with a lentiviral vector ex vivo, or on direct lentiviral vector injection, should be assessed in a phase I clinical trial.

Animals↗

Expression of the polyubiquitin-encoding gene (ubq-1) in transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans.

The expression of the polyubiquitin-encoding gene (ubq-1) of Caenorhabditis elegans was analysed using transgenic nematode lines carrying translational ubq-1::lacZ fusions. Animals carrying a construct consisting of 938 bp of ubq-1 upstream sequences fused to lacZ (ubq938::lacZ) expressed beta Gal in embryos and in a tissue-general manner in 20% of L1 larvae. Somatic expression in later stages was usually confined to body muscle. Progressively larger deletions extending from the 5' end of ubq938::lacZ did not significantly alter the pattern of expression until 827 bp of sequence had been removed. Thus, sequences upstream from the transcription start point, including a G+C-rich block and a sequence resembling a TATA box (GAATAA), are not required to generate the expression pattern seen with ubq938::lacZ. Moreover, a basal level of expression was maintained in embryos when 903 bp were deleted. These results suggest that the promoter elements required for efficient expression of ubq-1 may reside within the transcribed region of the gene; alternatively, they must lie more than 1.7 kb upstream or 0.8 kb downstream from this region. Polymerase chain reaction analysis indicates that RNA molecules transcribed from the ubq938::lacZ and ubq delta 827::lacZ transgenes are trans-spliced to SL1, as is ubq-1 RNA.

Animals↗

Porcine MCP gene promoter directs high level expression of human DAF (CD55) in transgenic mice.

Porcine membrane cofactor protein (pMCP), a complement regulatory protein, is widely expressed in various tissues. Particularly, it is highly expressed on vascular endothelium. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the pMCP gene promoter can induce efficient expression of a human complement regulatory protein, decay-accelerating factor (DAF; CD55) in transgenic mice. Two fragments of the 5'-flanking region of pMCP gene (0.9 kb and 5.4 kb) connected with human DAF minigene (0.9/hDAF and 5.4/hDAF) were used to produce transgenic mice. The expression of hDAF in heart, liver, kidney, lung, pancreas, brain and testis of the transgenic mice was examined by immunohistochemical analysis. The vascular endothelia and the nerves in all organs examined were intensely stained. The staining pattern in these tissues was similar in all transgenic mice examined regardless of the length of the promoters. The surface expression levels of hDAF on peripheral red blood cells and splenocytes from a mouse carrying 5.4/hDAF hemizygously was twice the level of expression on corresponding human cells. The red blood cells and splenocytes from the transgenic mice exhibited resistance to lysis by human serum in a manner dependent upon expressed hDAF level. The hearts from the transgenic mice functioned for a significantly longer time than those from normal mice under perfusion with human serum in the Langendorff perfusion system. These results demonstrated that the pMCP gene promoter is a good candidate of the regulatory element in the transgene to produce transgenic animals for xenotransplantation.

Animals↗

Recombinant human erythrocyte cytochrome b5.

The gene encoding the human erythrocyte form of cytochrome b5 (97 residues in length) has been prepared by mutagenesis of an expression vector encoding lipase-solubilized bovine liver microsomal cytochrome b5 (93 residues in length) (Funk et al., 1990). Efficient expression of this gene in Escherichia coli has provided the first opportunity to obtain this protein in quantities sufficient for physical and functional characterization. Comparison of the erythrocytic cytochrome with the trypsin-solubilized bovine liver cytochrome b5 by potentiometric titration indicates that the principal electrostatic difference between the two proteins results from two additional His residues present in the human erythrocytic protein. The midpoint reduction potential of this protein determined by direct electrochemistry is -9 +/- 2 mV vs SHE at pH 7.0 (mu = 0.10 M, 25.0 degrees C), and this value varies with pH in a fashion that is consistent with the presence of a single ionizable group that changes pKa from 6.0 +/- 0.1 in the ferricytochrome to 6.3 +/- 0.1 in the ferrocytochrome with delta H degrees = -3.2 +/- 0.1 kcal/mol and delta S degrees = -11.5 +/- 0.3 eu (pH 7.0, mu = 0.10). The 1D 1H NMR spectrum of the erythrocytic ferricytochrome indicates that 90% of the protein binds heme in the "major" orientation and 10% of the protein binds heme in the "minor" orientation (pH 7.0, 25 degrees C) with delta H degrees = -2.9 +/- 0.3 kcal/mol and delta S degrees = -5.4 +/- 0.9 eu for this equilibrium.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Functional analysis of the Sesbania rostrata leghemoglobin glb3 gene 5'-upstream region in transgenic Lotus corniculatus and Nicotiana tabacum plants.

Expression of the Sesbania rostrata leghemoglobin glb3 gene was analyzed in transgenic Lotus corniculatus and tobacco plants harboring chimeric glb3-uidA (gus) gene fusions to identify cis-acting elements involved in nodule-specific gene expression and general transcriptional control. A 1.9-kilobase fragment of the glb3 5'-upstream region was found to direct a high level of nodule-specific beta-glucuronidase (GUS) activity in L. corniculatus, restricted to the Rhizobium-infected cells of the nodules. The same fragment directed a low level of GUS activity in tobacco, restricted primarily to the roots and to phloem cells of the stem and petiole vascular system. A deletion analysis revealed that the region between coordinates -429 and -48 relative to the ATG was sufficient for nodule-specific expression. Replacement of the -161 to -48 region, containing the glb3 CAAT and TATA boxes, with the heterologous truncated promoters delta-p35S and delta-pnos resulted in a loss of nodule specificity and reduction of GUS activity in L. corniculatus but a significant increase in tobacco, primarily in the roots. The same fragment could not direct nodule-specific expression when fused to a heterologous enhancer in cis. This region contains DNA sequences required, but not sufficient, for nodule-specific expression in L. corniculatus that function poorly or may be involved in promoter silencing in tobacco. By fusing further upstream fragments to the delta-p35S and delta-pnos promoters, two positive regulatory regions were delimited between coordinates -1601 and -670, as well as -429 and -162. The former region appears to function as a general enhancer because it significantly increased promoter activity in both orientations in L. corniculatus and tobacco. The latter region could enhance gene expression in both orientations in tobacco, but only in the correct orientation in L. corniculatus. These results show that efficient expression of the S. rostrata glb3 gene in nodules is mediated by an ATG-proximal, tissue-specific element, as well as further 5'-upstream positive elements; that the S. rostrata glb3 promoter is induced in a nodule-specific fashion in the heterologous legume L. corniculatus, suggesting a high degree of conservation of the relevant regulatory signals; and that the S. rostrata lb promoter is not silent in the nonlegume tobacco, but is expressed primarily in the roots.

Base Sequence↗

Molecular cloning and expression of salmon prolactin cDNA.

Prolactin was purified from chum salmon pituitaries. It was resolved into two variants by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. A cDNA library was prepared from Pacific chinook salmon pituitaries. Salmon prolactin gene was screened using a synthetic oligonucleotide based on partial protein sequence. A positive clone (PRL-10) was identified and sequenced. It is a full-size clone containing 1.1 kb and coding for a preprolactin of 211 amino acids. A modified prolactin plasmid (PRL-10A), in which the 5' untranslated sequence and the nucleotide sequence coding for the signal peptide of prolactin were deleted, was reconstructed into an expression vector using the heat-inducible lambda pL promotor. Mature prolactin, a single polypeptide of 22 kDa, was efficiently expressed in the bacteria at an elevated temperature.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Amplification, expression, and packaging of a foreign gene by giardiavirus in Giardia lamblia.

Giardia lamblia is an intestinal protozoan parasite and one of the earliest eukaryotic divergents. The trophozoite multiplies via asexual binary fission and lacks all natural means of lateral gene transfer. A system is developed here for long-term expression of a foreign gene in this organism by exploiting recombinant virions derived from the giardiavirus (GLV), a double-stranded RNA virus that infects many Giardia isolates. An in vitro transcript of the cloned GLV cDNA, comprising the firefly luciferase-encoding region flanked by 5' and 3' fragments of GLV positive-strand RNA, was electroporated into GLV-infected trophozoites. Luciferase activity in electroporated cells peaked on day 2 at levels 6 orders of magnitude above background. Expression of this foreign gene remained at 80% of its peak level after 30 days in the absence of selective pressure. The chimeric RNA was replicated as double-stranded RNA and packaged into virus-like particles. The recombinant virions were partially purified from the wild-type helper virus by CsCl equilibrium density-gradient centrifugation and used to superinfect Giardia trophozoites. At multiplicities of infection of 100 or higher, these chimeric virions were able to initiate new rounds of expression of luciferase activity in the superinfected cells. Thus, the engineered virion can be successfully used to introduce and efficiently express a heterologous gene in this eukaryotic microorganism.

Animals↗

DNA immunization with Japanese encephalitis virus nonstructural protein NS1 elicits protective immunity in mice.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus, is a zoonotic pathogen that is prevalent in some Southeast Asian countries and causes acute encephalitis in humans. To evaluate the potential application of gene immunization to JEV infection, we characterized the immune responses from mice intramuscularly injected with plasmid DNA encoding JEV glycoproteins, including the precursor membrane (prM) plus envelope (E) proteins and the nonstructural protein NS1. When injected with the plasmid expressing prM plus E, 70% of the immunized mice survived after a lethal JEV challenge, whereas when immunized with the plasmid expressing NS1, 90% of the mice survived after a lethal challenge. As a control, the mice immunized with the DNA vector pcDNA3 showed a low level (40%) of protection, suggesting a nonspecific adjuvant effect of the plasmid DNA. Despite having no detectable neutralizing activity, the NS1 immunization elicited a strong antibody response exhibiting cytolytic activity against JEV-infected cells in a complement-dependent manner. By contrast, immunization with a construct expressing a longer NS1 protein (NS1'), containing an extra 60-amino-acid portion from the N terminus of NS2A, failed to protect mice against a lethal challenge. Biochemical analyses revealed that when individually expressed, NS1 but not NS1' could be readily secreted as a homodimer in large quantity and could also be efficiently expressed on the cell surface. Interestingly, when NS1 and NS1' coexisted in cells, the level of NS1 cell surface expression was much lower than that in cells expressing NS1 alone. These data imply that the presence of partial NS2A might have a negative influence on an NS1-based DNA vaccine. The results herein clearly illustrate that immunization with DNA expressing NS1 alone is sufficient to protect mice against a lethal JEV challenge.

Animals↗

Characterization of the Pal motifs in the upstream glucokinase promoter: binding of a cell type-specific protein complex correlates with transcriptional activation.

The upstream glucokinase (GK) promoter is expressed specifically in several different neural/neuroendocrine (NE) cell types, including the pancreatic beta-cell and pituitary corticotrope. Previously, a mutational and evolutionary analysis of this promoter identified two identical 9-bp motifs (TGGTCACCA) termed Pal-1 and Pal-2 that are essential for high level expression in HIT M2.2.2 cells, an insulinoma cell line. Here we show that these motifs are also necessary for efficient expression in AtT-20 cells, a corticotrope-derived cell line, and that proteins from both NE and non-NE cells bind to the Pal motifs, although the DNA-protein complexes differ by cell type. Complexes formed using nuclear extracts from NE cells contained an extra NE cell-specific band and differed in the relative abundance of two other bands when compared with non-NE cells, UV laser cross-linking experiments further supported the cell-specific binding of two proteins, 110 and 150 kDa in size, to these motifs. The presence or absence of the NE-specific band correlates with transcription of GK promoter fusion gene constructs, suggesting a key role for this protein in determining the cell-specific expression of GK. The Pal motifs themselves do not function as enhancers but seem to be essential components of a larger transcriptional regulatory domain that is active only in certain NE cells. Together, these studies suggest that the NE cell-specific expression of the upstream GK promoter involves the formation of a distinct protein complex on the two Pal motifs.

3T3 Cells↗

Characterization of promoters integrated in the genome of bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1).

Bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) has been used as a vector of live recombinant vaccines for cattle which express the genes of other pathogens. Because of the importance of the choice of the promoter which allows the efficient expression of the foreign genes in the BHV-1 vector, we compared the relative efficacy of various promoters integrated in the BHV-1 genome. The promoter sequences of the BHV-1 thymidine kinase (tk), gB, gC, SV40 early, and pseudorabies virus (PRV) immediate early (IE) genes were placed at the upstream of the open reading frame of the chloramphenycol acetyl transferase (CAT) gene and the promoter-CAT sequences were integrated into the tk gene of BHV-1 by homologous recombination. The promoter activity was assayed by measuring the CAT activity in the extracts of Madin Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells infected with the recombinant BHV-1. The PRV IE promoter was activated earlier and maintained at a higher level activity than the BHV-1 gB or gC promoters throughout the most of the growth phase of BHV-1. At the late phase, however, the activities of the BHV-1 gB and gC promoters reached the higher level. The BHV-1 tk promoter activity was low and the SV40 early promoter was hardly activated when integrated into the BHV-1 genome. promoter, recombinant BHV-1.

Animals↗

The Construction and Expression of Polycistronic Retroviral Vector Carrying Genes of TNF-alpha, IL-2 and NeoR.

The coordinate expression of a marker gene and therapeutic genes in a single vector is markedly advantageous. The internal ribosome entry site (IRES) from encephalomyocarditis and that from polio viruses were used to construct a polycistronic retroviral vector pGCEN/TRI, where Neo-resistant gene was used as a marker gene and TNF-alpha cDNA, IL-2 cDNA as genes of interest, so that the LTR promoter derived the expression of a tricistronic mRNA. Amphotropic packaging cells PA317 transfected with pGCEN/TRI using LipofectAMINE was selected with G418 and the positive clones expressing the genes of interest to produce high-titer retrovirus (5x10(5) CFU/ml) were obtained. PCR confirmed the presence of proviral DNA in the positive producer cells and Northern blot analysis revealed a single, LTR promoted transcript. The transduced cells expressed TNF-alpha and IL-2 at different levels. This demonstrated that polycistronic retroviral vector containing IRES could efficiently express multiple therapeutic genes in the same target cell.

Journal Article↗

[Prokaryotic expression of functional PTEN in Escherichia coli and preparation of polyclonal antibody].

PTEN, a dual-specificity phosphatase, exerts its tumor-suppressive effects through the inhibition of cell cycle progression and cell immigration, therefore could be an important candidate for tumor-suppression. As study on prokaryotic expression of PTEN and its anti-tumor functions has not been reported, the present study aims at an efficient expression of functional PTEN in Escherichia coli and the investigation of its tumor-suppression activity. PTEN cDNA cloned in our lab previously was recombined into prokaryotic expression vector pET-44a(+) to construct pET-PTEN (pEP) and pET-Nus-PTEN (pENP). PTEN was fused with 6 x His tag in pEP, and with Nus in pENP, which could be useful for a stable and soluble expression. The recombinant vectors were transformed into both BL21 (DE3) (BL) and Rosetta-gami (DE3) pLysS (RG). The former is a normal expression host while the latter is optimized for expression of eukaryotic genes and folding of target proteins. On the induction of 0.5mmol/L IPTG, 55kD and 118kD specific protein bands were observed, corresponding to His-PTEN and Nus-PTEN fusion proteins, respectively. Western blot analysis showed the recombinant fusion proteins could react with PTEN polyclonal antibody. The recombinant HTEN was expressed both in soluble fraction and inclusion body. Higher expression levels of recombinant PTEN were obtained in BL (His-PTEN: 10.3%; NusA-PTEN: 18.7%), whereas the higher percentages of soluble recombinant proteins were observed in RG (His-PTEN: 4.7%; Nus-PTEN: 6.6%). The obtained recombinant fusion proteins were purified by affinity chromatography and were showed to be homogeneous in SDS-PAGE. In tumor-suppression experiments, His-PTEN was proved to have significant inhibition on growth of mice solid tumor with an inhibitory ratio of 58.76%, and on the proliferation of DU-145 tumor cells with an inhibitory ratio of 46.16%. The cell cycle progression of DU-145 tumor cells was also arrested from G0/G1 to S phase. His-PTEN from RG was proved to have significantly higher tumor-suppression activity than that from BL, indicating that there may be some advantages for eukaryotic genes to be expressed in the former host. This is the report of functional recombinant PTEN expressed in Escherichia coli. Purified His-PTEN was used for immunizing Kunming mice, and ascitic polyclonal antibodies raised against His-PTEN were generated using sarcoma 180 cells. At 1:2000 dilution, the antibodies could interact with PTEN by western blot. The present study has laid a foundation for application of PTEN in cancer therapy.

Animals↗

Regulation of the rat alpha-fetoprotein gene expression in liver. Both the promoter region and an enhancer element are liver-specific and negatively modulated by dexamethasone.

Cis-acting elements involved in the control of rat alpha-fetoprotein gene expression in the liver and its modulation by glucocorticoid hormones were detected after transfection of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase constructs and their transient expression into two hepatoma cell lines. The proximal promoter region (-324 to -15) was found to contain all the information necessary for tissue-specific expression. It is also involved in the negative gene modulation by glucocorticoids and includes an activating regulatory domain allowing efficient expression in the HepG2 cells. Three regions within 7 kilobase pairs of the 5' extragenic sequences are capable of stimulating the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity driven by the alpha-fetoprotein promoter sequence. One of these regions, at about -2.5 kilobase pairs, contains a short indivisible 170-base pair DNA element that fulfills all the criteria of a tissue-specific enhancer, i.e. orientation and position independence, as well as cell-specific stimulation of gene expression driven by a homologous or heterologous promoter. The enhancing properties of this element are totally abolished by glucocorticoids. DNase I footprinting experiments indicate that several rat liver nuclear proteins interact with this enhancer element.

Animals↗

Appropriate mammalian expression systems for biopharmaceuticals.

Process development for biopharmaceuticals is dictated by product quality, drug safety and economy of the manufacturing process. Not surprisingly, these factors also play a key role in the evaluation of mammalian cell expression systems to be used in the production of pharmacologically active glycoproteins. To date, the most prominent candidates for efficient expression of glycoproteins are mammalian cell lines such as mouse fibroblast cells (C 127-BPV), Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO-DHFR, CHO-NEOSPLA, CHO-GS), mouse myeloma cells (NSO-GS) as well as transgenic animals carrying c-DNA or genomic DNA which codes for the protein of interest. The expression titer in the case of glycoproteins is mainly determined by the promoter construct, the site of integration into the chromosome, the copy number and the type of protein in question. Based on expression titer, CHO-NEOSPLA and NSO-GS expression systems are most effective in the production of monoclonal antibodies and, to a lesser extent, of recombinant DNA derived proteins. However, based on overall product yield, expression of recombinant DNA derived proteins in transgenic animals is by far the most promising system. Therefore, for proteins required in large quantities, transgenic expression systems offer an attractive choice. However, cost of goods for products for which the dosage or the overall annual quantities are low, is dominated by downstream processing, filling, lyophilization and packaging and not by the fermentation process. Such proteins are preferentially produced by classical mammalian cell culture systems. Concerns which have to be addressed with respect to drug safety in the transgenic animal approach are the size of the herd, genetic stability from animal to animal, variation in productivity and in impurity profiles during lactation periods, microbial, viral, mycoplasma and prion contaminants, the dependence on health status and the life span of the animal. In a number of cases glycosylation of the protein is relevant for the prevention of immunogenicity of the protein, the pharmacological activity, the pharmacokinetic profile, solubility and stability against proteolysis. The glycosylation pattern, depending on protein structure, is influenced by the enzymatic system of the host cell as well as by fermentation conditions. Therefore, selection of host cells and culture conditions must take into account the requirement for a specific and stable glycosylation pattern. For the assessment of glycovariants, a number of protein analytical methods such as peptide mapping, isoelectric focusing, oligosaccharide mapping, MALDI-TOF (matrix assisted laser desorption mass spectrometry-time of flight), capillary electrophoresis and specific potency assays are available. In our experiments, glycosylation of proteins expressed in CHO cells was demonstrated to be very stable. Only extreme process times, cultivation methods and ammonium ion concentrations had an influence on the glycosylation profile. Among the three products investigated--tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), interferon omega and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (s-ICAM)--t-PA expressed the most stable glycosylation pattern. Only at extreme ammonium concentrations an increase of mannose-5 structures was observed, whereas biantennary complex structures were reduced. On the other hand, interferon omega and s-ICAM showed greater susceptibility to increased ammonium concentrations and to adherent cultivation. Such conditions induced quantitative changes to the glycosylation pattern favoring the appearance of higher branched structures. Short cultivation times resulted in more heterogenous oligosaccharide structures. Since the glycosylation of the three proteins is different in the same host cell, the amino acid sequence of the protein apparently influences the glycosylation pattern and its sensitivity to culture conditions. In NSO-mouse myeloma cells, production of s-ICAM is two times as high as in CHO cells

Animals↗

Nonviral in vivo gene delivery into tumors using a novel low volume jet-injection technology.

The jet-injection technology has developed as an applicable alternative to viral or liposomal gene delivery systems. In this study a novel, low-volume, 'high-speed jet injector' hand-held system was used for the direct gene transfer of naked DNA into tumors. Lewis-lung carcinoma bearing mice were jet-injected with the beta-galactosidase (LacZ), the green fluorescence (GFP) or the human tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) gene carrying vector plasmids. The animals received five jet injections into the tumor at a pressure of 3.0 bar, delivering 3--5 microl plasmid DNA (1 microg DNA/microl in water) per single jet injection. The jet injection of DNA leads to a widespread expression pattern within tumor tissues with penetration depths of 5--10 mm. Analysis of tumor cryosections revealed moderate LacZ or GFP expression at 48 h and strong reporter gene expression 72 h and 96 h after jet injection. The simultaneous jet injection of the TNF-alpha and LacZ carrying vectors demonstrated efficient expression and secretion of both the cytokine, as well as LacZ expression within the tumor 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 96 h and 120 h after jet injection. These studies demonstrate the applicability of jet injection for the efficient in vivo gene transfer into tumors for nonviral gene therapy of cancer using minimal amounts of naked DNA.

Animals↗

Pseudorabies virus recombinants expressing functional virulence determinants gE and gI from bovine herpesvirus 1.1.

In the Alphaherpesvirinae subfamily, the gE and gI genes are conserved and encode membrane glycoproteins required for efficient pathogenesis (virulence). The molecular mechanism(s) responsible is not well understood, but the existence of similar phenotypes of gE and gI mutations in diverse Alphaherpesvirinae implies conservation of function(s). In this report, we describe construction of pseudorabies virus (PRV) recombinants that efficiently express the bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) membrane proteins gI and gE at the PRV gG locus. Each BHV-1 gene was cloned in a PRV mutant lacking both the PRV gI and gE coding sequences. All recombinant viruses expressed the BHV-1 proteins at levels similar to or greater than that observed after infection with parental BHV-1, and there were no observable differences in processing or ability to form gE-gI oligomers. The important observation resulting from this report is that the BHV-1 gE and gI proteins functioned together to complement the virulence defect of PRV lacking its own gE and gI genes in a rodent model, despite being derived from a highly restricted host range virus with a different pathogenic profile.

Animals↗