Magnetic selection of transiently transfected cells.
An efficient and rapid method for selecting transiently transfected cells is described. A plasmid encoding for a neural cell-specific surface marker is co-transfected into mammalian cells along with the gene of interest. After uptake and expression of these two plasmids, the transfected cells are immuno-adsorbed to magnetic beads pre-coated with antibodies against the surface marker. These immuno-complexes are then isolated by means of a strong magnet. In a single round of magnetic selection, we were able to enrich the cell population more than 7-fold for a co-transfected reporter. These specifically selected cells can now be used for either further cultivation or for immediate analysis. This method has been shown to be effective on HeLa and on CV-1 cells and is expected to give similar results on any other transfectable, non-neuronal cell lines.
Schneider
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University of Fribourg, Pérolles, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Rusconi
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S
D000818:Animals; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D018189:Immunomagnetic Separation; D014162:Transfection