We report a new experimental method of direct selection, identification, and mapping of potential enhancer sequences within extended stretches of genomic DNA. The method allows simultaneous cloning of a quantity of sequences instead of tedious screening of the separate ones, thus providing a robust and high-throughput approach to the mapping of enhancers. The selection procedure is based on the...

Transgenic mice provide one of the best experimental systems to study gene function in vivo. Although transgenic mice carry the additional genetic material in every cell of the body, expression of the transgenes under the control of constitutive promoter/enhancer units, such as the murine major histocompatibility complex promoter H2-Kb, the CMV enhancer/promoter, the murine Pgk-1 promoter or th...

The properties of constitutive promoters within adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors have not yet been fully characterized. In this study, AAV vectors, in which enhanced GFP expression was directed by one of the six constitutive promoters (human β-actin, human elongation factor-1α, chicken β-actin combined with cytomegalovirus early enhancer, cytomegalovirus (CMV), simian virus 40, and herpes s...

In our previous study, we demonstrated that episomal vectors based on the characteristic sequence of matrix attachment regions (MARs) and containing the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter allow transgenes to be maintained episomally in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. However, the transgene expression was unstable and the number of copies was low. In this study, we focused on enhancers, various p...

cytomegaloviurs (cmv) is the most frequent cause of congenital infection in humans. in various parts of the world the prevalence of antibodies to cmv ranges from 40-100%. the prevalence of primary infection with cmv in pregnant iranian women and risk of congenital cmv infection in their neonates are unknown. to determine the prevalence of cmv infection in primiparous pregnant (youner) women and...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to develop a novel tumor-specific promoter gene linking sodium iodide symporter (NIS) gene to specifically target hepatocellular carcinoma in a mouse tumor model. MATERIALS AND METHODS A tumor-specific chimeric promoter for alpha-fetoprotein gene (AFP) was combined with hepatitis B virus (HBV) enhancer II to investigate radioiodine uptake in vitro and in vivo in he...

The expression of genes in transgenic mice is known to be influenced by the site of integration even when they carry their own promoter elements and transcription factor binding sites. The cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter, a strong promoter often used for transgene expression in mammalian cells in culture, is known to be silenced by DNA methylation and histone deacetylation but there is no report...

RNA-interference-driven loss of function in specific tissues in vivo should permit analysis of gene function in temporally and spatially defined contexts. However, delivery of efficient short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to target tissues in vivo remains problematic. Here, we demonstrate that efficiency of polyethylenimine (PEI)-delivered shRNA depends on the regulatory sequences used, both in vivo and ...

The DF3/MUC1 gene is aberrantly overexpressed in human breast and other carcinomas. Previous studies have demonstrated that the DF3/MUC1 promoter/enhancer confers selective expression of diverse transgenes in MUC1-positive breast cancer cells. In this study, we show that an adenoviral vector (Ad.DF3-E1) in which the DF3/MUC1 promoter drives expression of E1A selectively replicates in MUC1-posit...

Delivery of multiple exogenous genes into target cells is important for a broad range of gene therapy applications, including combined therapeutic gene expression and noninvasive imaging. Previous studies ( Mol Ther 4: 223-231, 2001 ) have described the adenoviral vector RGDTKSSTR with a double-expression cassette that encodes herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSVtk) for molecular chemothe...