The objective of this study was to determine if the transfection of human prourokinase (ProU) gene and passage number of transfected ear fibroblasts affected in vitro development of bovine transgenic nuclear transfer (NT) embryos. An expression plasmid for human ProU was constructed by inserting a bovine beta-casein promoter, a green fluorescent protein (GFP) marker and human ProU gene into a p...

Huntingtin (Htt) mutation causes Huntington's disease. Sequence analysis of Htt revealed a possible thrombin cleavage site in the N-terminal region of Htt. In order to investigate if thrombin can cleave Htt, we expressed the N-terminal fragment (1-969) of wild-type (wt) Htt (Htt 1-969) in MCF-7 cells and studied its cleavage pattern by thrombin in vitro. An expression plasmid pcDNA3-Htt-18Q-969...

BACKGROUND Cervical cancer is one of the most important and widespread cancer which affects women. There are several causes of cervical cancer; among them HPV types 16 and 18 are the most prominent ones which are recurrent and persistent infections. These genotypes are currently about 70% of cervical cancer causes in developing countries. Due to the importance of these viruses in cervical cance...

Phosphate-activated glutaminase has a critical role in tumours and rapidly dividing cells and its activity is correlated with malignancy. Ehrlich ascites tumour cells transfected with the pcDNA3 vector containing an antisense segment (0.28 kb) of rat kidney glutaminase showed impairment in the growth rate and plating efficiency, as well as a shortage in the glutaminase protein and activity. The...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to construct a recombinant adenovirus vector carrying mouse 4-1BBL and observe its effects in dendritic cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS Mouse 4-1BBL cDNA was taken from the plasmid pcDNA3-m4- 1BBL and subcloned into adenovirus shuttle plasmid pAdTrack-CMV, and then transformed into competent BJ5183 with plasmid pAdEasy-1. After recombination in E.coli, Ad-4-1...

Background The objective of this study was to clone, express and characterize the gene encoding rhomboid 4 (ROM4) proteins, a vital gene in surface adhesion and host cell invasion process of tachyzoite of T. gondii in an appropriate expression vector and eukaryotic cell for production of recombinant protein. Methods Toxoplasma RNA was isolated from tachyzoites (RH strain) and complementary DN...

Fibroblast growth factor-1 (FGF-1) is secreted by astrocytes and stimulates apolipoprotein E (apoE)-HDL biogenesis by an autocrine mechanism to help in recovery from brain injury. In apoE-deficient mouse astrocytes, FGF-1 stimulated cholesterol biosynthesis without enhancing its release, indicating a signaling pathway independent of apoE biosynthesis upregulation. SU5402, an inhibitor of FGF re...

This study was conducted to evaluate the immunogenicity of the Brucella abortus lumazine synthase (BLS) gene cloned into the pcDNA3 plasmid, which is driven by the cytomegalovirus promoter. Injection of plasmid DNA carrying the BLS gene (pcDNA-BLS) into BALB/c mice elicited both humoral and cellular immune responses. Antibodies to the encoded BLS included immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) IgG2a, IgG2b, ...

BACKGROUND Cervical cancer has been shown to be highly associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The viral oncogenes E6 and E7 are constantly expressed by the tumor cells and are therefore potent targets for therapeutic genetic vaccination. In the present study, it was investigated the potential effect of HPV-16 E6, E7 and L1 co-administration to activate specific cytotoxic T lympho...