Open AccessNovel chimeric vectors harboring hepatitis B viral promoter and reporter gene demonstrated liver-specific significance
Author(s) -
Ayesha Anwer,
Sabah Khan,
Fatima Amir,
Sajad Ahmad Bhat,
Syed Ali Azam,
Syed Kazim Hasan,
Masarrat Afroz,
Rashid Waseem,
Asimul Islam,
Shama Parveen,
Syed Naqui Kazim
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
future virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.462
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1746-0808
pISSN - 1746-0794
DOI - 10.2217/fvl-2021-0259
Subject(s) - transfection , promoter , hepatitis b virus , reporter gene , gene , virology , microbiology and biotechnology , green fluorescent protein , genetic enhancement , plasmid , expression vector , biology , hek 293 cells , gene expression , virus , recombinant dna , biochemistry
Aim: Expression of EGFP was investigated to ascertain the strength and specificity of CMV, U6 and hepatitis B virus (HBV) core promoters in hepatic and non-hepatic cells. Materials & methods: pSilencer-2.1 plasmid vector is known for siRNA-based inhibition. To achieve target-specific correction of disease-causing genes, pSilencer–GFP was constructed. For liver specific expression of therapeutic genes, endogenous U6 promoter of pSilencer-2.1 was replaced with HBV core promoter and ubiquitously active CMV promoter. Results: Transfection results showed that GFP expression under the control of HBV core promoter was higher in hepatic Hep3B than non-hepatic HEK293T cells. Conclusion: HBV core promoter could lead to specific expression in hepatocytes, which might be used in gene therapy of liver diseases as well as for siRNA-based therapeutic strategies.