Scaffold-attached regions from the human interferon beta domain can be used to enhance the stable expression of genes under the control of various promoters.

We have transfected DNA corresponding to the complete chromatin domain of human interferon beta (huIFN-beta) gene into mouse L cells. In this construct, which is flanked by scaffold-attached regions (SARs), the gene's transcription was enhanced 20-30-fold with respect to DNAs containing only the immediate regulatory elements. To elucidate the role of SAR elements in the transcriptional enhancement, their position was varied relative to several artificial promoter-gene combinations. It was found that SARs enhance general promoter functions in an orientation- and partially distance-independent manner; their effect is restricted to the integrated state of transfected templates. During the phase of transient expression, SAR elements were generally found to have an antagonizing effect.