title: The targeted expression of interleukin-2 in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
abstract: To improve the safety and efficiency of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) gene therapy, we explored the use of a liver-specific promoter and a tumor-specific enhancer to achieve regular IL-2 gene expression for treatment of HCC. The human alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) enhancer [E(AFP)] and the albumin promoter [P(ALB)] were amplified from human genomic DNA. We used eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA-3 for the delivery of the IL-2 gene because this plasmid is a non-transient, fast-selection expression vector. A recombinant plasmid was constructed including the selectable marker neoR gene and the human IL-2 gene derived by the E(AFP) - P(ALB). The liver-predominant expression pattern of the IL-2 gene was observed in the medium of the transfected cells. When human HCC cell lines displaying different levels of AFP and non-hepatocyte tumor cell lines were transfected with the recombinant plasmid, IL-2 was expressed highly in AFP and albumin-positive HCC cells, but low in nonhepatocyte tumor cells. Moreover, the expression level of IL-2 gene was positively proportional to the level of AFP expression in the transfected cells.
authors.affiliation: Liver Cancer Institute & Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Medical University, PR China.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Z Y
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Y K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000418:Albumins / Q000235:genetics; D019677:Artificial Gene Fusion; D001483:Base Sequence; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D015870:Gene Expression; D018390:Gene Targeting; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000235:genetics; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000418:Albumins; D017931:DNA Primers; D007376:Interleukin-2; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins