title: Calretinin promoter for suicide gene expression in malignant mesothelioma.
abstract: To achieve specific and efficient expression of transfected suicide gene in malignant mesothelioma cells, we explored the 5-flanking region (2.2 kb) of the calretinin gene as a tumor-specific promoter. RT-PCR analysis demonstrated the expression of calretinin mRNA in two human malignant mesothelioma cell lines (H2052 and 211 H). A reporting vector containing the calretinin promoter (pCAL-LUC) exhibited relatively high luciferase activity in these cell lines. After transfecting an expression vector containing the calretinin promoter-bound thymidine kinase gene (pCAL-TK) into the cells, we examined their sensitivity to ganciclovir (GCV). In the mesothelioma cell lines, the pCAL-TK transfected cells became about 100 times more sensitive to GCV than the parental cells. The calretinin promoter seems to be a promising candidate as a specific and efficient promoter in malignant mesothelioma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 1 13-8519, Japan. ninase.pulm@tmd.ac.jp
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Inase
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyake
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshizawa
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D064032:Calbindin 2; D015774:Ganciclovir / Q000494:pharmacology; D015870:Gene Expression; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D064030:S100 Calcium Binding Protein G / Q000235:genetics*; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000201:enzymology*; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000235:genetics*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; C576764:CALB2 protein, human; D064032:Calbindin 2; D064030:S100 Calcium Binding Protein G; D013937:Thymidine Kinase; D015774:Ganciclovir