Construction of an eukaryotic expression vector containing HSV-tk gene under the control of survivin promoter and specific expression in human laryngeal carcinoma cells.

Objective:To construct an eukaryotic expression vector containing HSV-tk gene under the control of survivin promoter and identify the expression of the vector in human laryngeal carcinoma cells. Methods:Survivin promotor and tk gene were amplified from plasmids by PCR,and were cloned into pCI-neo vector. After the eukaryotic expression vector was confirmed by restriction enzyme digestion, it was transfected into human laryngeal carcinoma cells(Hep-2) and human liver cells(7702) by liposome. RT-PCR was used to detect the tk gene in laryngeal carcinoma cells and normal cells. Results:The eukaryotic expression vector containing HSV-tk gene under the control of survivin promoter was successfully constructed. The result of RT-PCR indicated that tk gene was expressed in laryngeal carcinoma cells,but not in normal liver cells. Conclusion:Survivin promoter is tumor-specific and maybe useful in gene therapy of tumor.