Construction of eukaryotic expression plasmid containing HCV NS3 segment and protein expression in human HL-7702 hepatocytes

AIM: To construct the eukaryotic expression plasmid containing HCV NS3 segment and to analyze the expression of NS3 protein in normal human hepatocyte HL-7702. METHODS: We amplified HCV NS3 fragment from plasmid pBRTM/HCV 1-3011 containing the whole length of HCV genome, recombined it with expression vector pcDNA3.1(-) to form the eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1(-)/NS3, and transfected human HL-7702 hepatocytes with the recombined plasmid by cationic polymers. The expressed HCV NS3 protein was detected and analyzed by immunohistochemical method and Western blot. RESULTS: The amplified NS3 fragments had correct molecule weight and sequence. The successfully constructed eukaryotic expression plasmids were transfected to HL-7702 cells. The expressed NS3 proteins had correct molecular weight 70000. CONCLUSION: Eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1 (-)/NS3 containing NS3 segment of HCV can be constructed, the sequence of NS3 fragments is consistent with the template. Normal human HL-7702 hepatocytes can efficiently express specific HCV NS3 protein in vitro.