Construction and expression of retroviral vector containing bone morphogenetic protein-7 gene

AIM: To achieve stable and long term expression of BMP 7 gene in bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs). METHODS: Retrovirus expression vector containing BMP 7 gene was constructed and transfected into packaging cells PT67. After puromycin selection and cells cloning, cells clones producing high level of recombinant virus were obtained. The viruses were used to infect directly BMSCs and the expression of BMP 7 gene in BMSCs was analyzed by immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: Retrovirus vector containing BMP 7 gene was successfully reconstructed and BMP 7 was expressed in the BMSCs.The transfection rates was about 30%～40%. CONCLUSION: The construction of recombinant retrovirus vector containing BMP 7 gene can provide a reliable tool for the formation of bone or cartilage seed cells in the research of tissue engineering.