Journal of Biochemistry Advance Access published online on January 2, 2008
Journal of Biochemistry, doi:10.1093/jb/mvm244
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© 2008 The Japanese Biochemical Society
Induction of efficient differentiation and survival of porcine neonatal pancreatic cell clusters using an EBV-based plasmid expressing HGF
Research Institute of Immunobiology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-701, Republic of Korea
*Corresponding author: Prof. Suk Kyeong Lee, Ph. D. Research Institute of Immunobiology, Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, 137-701, Korea, Tel: + 82-2-590-2396, Fax: + 82-2-532-0575, Email: sukklee{at}catholic.ac.kr
Received October 11, 2007; Accepted December 16, 2007
| Abstract |
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Porcine neonatal pancreatic cell clusters (NPCCs) have been actively studied as a source of pancreatic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of diabetes. In this study, the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene was cloned in an EBV-based plasmid vector (pEBVHGF) and the effects of the HGF expression on the survival and differentiation of NPCCs were analyzed. For comparison, pHGF was constructed by deleting EBNA-1 and OriP from pEBVHGF. The expression of HGF, as measured by ELISA, lasted longer when pEBVHGF was used than when pHGF was used. C-Met phosphorylation co-related with the expression of HGF in the transfected NPCCs. Immunocytochemistry experiments showed that NPCCs showed a higher and longer expression of insulin when they were transfected with pEBVHGF than with pHGF. Moreover, a greater number of NPCCs survived for a longer period after they were transfected with pEBVHGF than when they were transfected with pHGF. Taken together, these results indicate that transfecting NPCCs with the HGF gene using an EBV-based plasmid is a more effective method of inducing differentiation to beta cells and enhancing survival than using a conventional plasmid. Therefore, it may be possible to use EBV-based plasmids to modify pancreatic stem cells for xenotransplantation.
Key Words: Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-based plasmids, Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), Insulin, Porcine neonatal pancreatic cell clusters (NPCCs)