title: Stable luciferase reporter cell lines for signal transduction pathway readout using GAL4 fusion transactivators.
abstract: While GAL4 fusion activators have been widely used for dissecting signal transduction pathways in transient assays, there has been surprisingly little reported on utilizing cell lines with stably integrated fusion activators. To avoid problems with the efficiency and reproducibility inherent to transient transfection, we describe here the generation and characterization of HeLa reporter cell lines, which contain a stably integrated luciferase gene responsive to stably integrated and constitutively expressed GAL4-CREB or GAL4-Elk1 fusion activators. These cell lines exhibited extremely low basal luciferase expression but robust response to various extracellular stimuli or the expression of signaling molecules that resulted in elevated MAP kinase or PKA activities. This integrated two-component reporter system allows one to focus specifically on particular signaling pathway endpoints and the altered transactivation activity of either Elk1 or CREB. With the procedures described here, many novel cell-based assays can be developed by generating new reporter cell lines with medically important but difficult-to-transfect cell types, and by using different reporter genes or different fusion transactivator genes.
authors.affiliation: Novasite Pharmaceuticals, 3520 Dunhill Street, San Diego, CA 92121, USA. czheng@novasite.com
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hexdall
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D001665:Binding Sites; D002460:Cell Line; D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein / Q000235:genetics; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D004789:Enzyme Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor / Q000494:pharmacology; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015870:Gene Expression; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008156:Luciferases / Q000235:genetics*; D048369:MAP Kinase Kinase 1; D020929:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate / Q000494:pharmacology; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C052130:GAL4 protein, S cerevisiae; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor; D004247:DNA; D008156:Luciferases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D048369:MAP Kinase Kinase 1; C482125:MAP2K1 protein, human; D020929:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate