We analyzed the effect of serum and fibronectin on pulmonary transgene expression after intravenous injection of cationic liposome-plasmid DNA (pDNA) complex (lipoplex) in mice. 1,2-Dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane (DOTAP) methyl sulfate salt/cholesterol lipoplex was incubated with several serum components for 5 min at 37°C prior to injection. We analyzed pulmonary transgene expression and ...

A role for the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway in the establishment of heterochromatin is now well accepted for various organisms. Less is known about its relevance and precise role in mammalian cells. We previously showed that tandem insertion of a 1,000-copy inducible transgene into the genome of baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells initiated the formation of an extremely condensed chromatin locus...

Tissue-specific control of gene expression is an invaluable tool for studying various biological processes and medical applications. Efficient regulatory systems have been utilized to control transgene expression in various types of DNA viral or integrating viral vectors. However, existing regulatory systems are difficult to transfer into negative-strand RNA virus vector platforms because of si...

In quiescent tissues, minicircle DNA vectors provide at least 10 times higher sustained levels of transgene expression compared to that achieved with a canonical plasmid containing the same expression cassette. It is not known if there is a specific DNA sequence or structure that is needed for DNA silencing. To directly address this question, we substituted the bacterial plasmid DNA with variou...

RNA-mediated virus resistance has been observed in transgenic plants at varying frequencies, suggesting that a nuclear requirement or other pre-condition must be met. This study was undertaken to characterize genetically transgenes that confer a highly resistant state to infection by tobacco etch virus (TEV). Transgenic tobacco line 2RC-6.13, expressing an untranslatable mRNA containing the TEV...

Adenovirus vectors have been studied as vehicles for gene transfer to skeletal muscle, an attractive target for gene therapies for inherited and acquired diseases. In this setting, immune responses to viral proteins and/or transgene products cause inflammation and lead to loss of transgene expression. A few studies in murine models have suggested that the destructive cell-mediated immune respon...

OBJECTIVE The major immediate-early cytomegalovirus enhancer/promoter (MIECMV), widely used in cardiovascular gene therapy, contains several positively regulatory cAMP response elements (CRE). Catecholamine signaling via beta-adrenoceptors might increase transgene expression from MIECMV, and if so, beta-blockers may have a detrimental effect on the efficacy of clinical cardiovascular gene thera...

Drosophila were genetically transformed with a hobo transgene that contains a terminally truncated but otherwise complete P element fused to the promoter from the Drosophila hsp70 gene. Insertions of this H(hsp/CP) transgene on either of the major autosomes produced the P transposase in both the male and female germlines, but not in the soma. Heat-shock treatments significantly increased transp...

Stressful stimuli strongly induce proenkephalin gene expression within the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus. A human proenkephalin-beta-galactosidase fusion gene has previously been shown to give correct phenotypic expression and appropriate stress regulation within the hypothalamus of transgenic mice; this model provides high sensitivity, cellular resolution, and ready quantif...