Construction of Smac gene-containing and human prostate specific antigen promoter-regulated vector and its expression1

ObjectiveTo construct an eukaryotic expression vector containing Smac gene and study the expression efficiency and specificity of prostate specific antigen (PSA)enhancer/promoter in a possible targeted gene therapy scheme for prostate cancer.MethodsPSA enhancer (PSA) and promoter (PSAP) sequences were amplified using PCR method. CMV and T7 promoters were deleted from pcDNA3.1-Smac and replaced by the two specific fragments to generate pPSAE-PSAP-Smac. After transfection into different cell lines, the status of cells was observed. And then, we determined the relative concentration of Smac mRNA in RT-PCR.ResultsThe recombinant plasmid of pPSAE-PSAP-Smac was successfully constructed. And only the prostate cancer cell line PC-3 was suppressed after transfection with pPSAE-PSAP-Smac. However, other nonprostate lines were not. Moreover, the concentration of Smac mRNA regulated by PSA promoter and enhancer was higher in comparison to the CMV promoter-driven control vectors.ConclusionAn expression vector containing the Smac gene (based on elements of the PSA gene regulatory sequences) has been developed and shown to function in prostate cancer cell lines which provides a solid platform for launching clinical studies.