Abstract
Ionising radiation induces the expression of a number of radiation-responsive genes and there is current interest in exploiting this to regulate the expression of exogenous therapeutic genes in gene therapy strategies for cancer. However, the radiation-responsive promoters used in these approaches are often associated with low and transient levels of therapeutic gene expression. We describe here a novel radiation-triggered molecular switching device based on promoter elements from the radiation-responsive Egr-1 gene and the cre-LoxP site-specific recombination system of the P1 bacteriophage. Using this system, a single, minimally toxic dose of radiation induced cre-mediated excision of a lox-P flanked stop cassette in a silenced expression vector and this resulted in amplified levels of CMV-promoter-driven expression of the exogenous tumour-sensitising gene, HSV-tk. This strategy could be used in combination with targeted delivery and tumour-specific promoters to elicit the tumour-targeted and prolonged expression of a variety of tumour-sensitising genes and provide an unprecedented level of control and tumour selectivity.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1121-1125 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Gene Therapy |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 13 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2000 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- CRE recombinase
- Ganciclovir
- HSVtk
- Molecular switch
- Radiation-responsive elements
- Radiotherapy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Medicine
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics