title: Hypoxia-specific upregulation of the endogenous human VEGF-A gene by hypoxia-driven expression of artificial transcription factor.
abstract: Activation of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) is an attractive approach to treatment of ischemic diseases. Although zinc-finger-based artificial transcription factors (ATFs) were constructed for human VEGF-A and constitutive expression of ATFs upregulated the endogenous VEGF-A gene expression, activation of VEGF-A specifically in ischemic tissues is desirable for therapeutic application of ATF technology. Here, we describe hypoxia-specific activation of human VEGF-A gene by hypoxia-driven expression of the ATF. We constructed a hypoxia-driven promoter for the ATF expression and placed it upstream of the ATF-encoding regions. The resulting hypoxia-driven expression plasmid induced the ATF expression in hypoxia but not in normoxia, and the hypoxia-specific expression of the ATF activated the VEGF-A expression specifically in hypoxia. Thus, the engineered expression system of ATFs may enable activation of VEGF-A expression specifically in ischemic tissues without affecting normal, healthy tissues in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyotodaigaku-Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanamori
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aoyama
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sera
mesh_terms: D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D015854:Up-Regulation; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*; D016335:Zinc Fingers
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A