Improved gene expression by a U3-based retroviral vector

Bing Fang Chen, Chia Ling Hsieh, Ding Shinn Chen, Lih Hwa Hwang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

To improve the expression of the genes transduced by retroviral vectors, we have constructed a U3-based retroviral vector and evaluated its effect on the expression of an insert from the internal promoter. The unique feature of the vector is that the transduced gene is inserted at the U3 region of the 3′ long terminal repeats (LTR). Consequently, in the infected cells the gene is duplicated and transferred to the 5′-LTR. When compared with the conventional retroviral vectors which insert the gene within the retroviral transcriptional unit, the U3-based vectors greatly enhanced the expression of the transduced gene under all three promoters tested, viz. the cytomegalovirus immediately early gene promoter (CMV), the SV40 early gene promoter (SV), and the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene promoter (TK). The SV and TK promoters which were previously shown suppressed by the retroviral promoter in the conventional construction restored their potencies in the U3-based vectors. Our results therefore suggested that the U3-based vectors are more advantageous than the conventional vectors for gene expression.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)330-337
Number of pages8
JournalBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Volume184
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 15 1992
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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