Inhibition of gene expression from the human c-erbB gene promoter by a retroviral vector expressing anti-gene RNA.

Anti-gene is a potent inhibitor of transcriptional promoter activity and subsequent gene expression. This property has been exploited to suppress the expression of a variety of oncogenes for regulating tumor proliferation or viral activities. In this paper, we describe a novel retroviral vector designed to express human c-erbB anti-gene RNA and to reduce the promoter activity in the cells. Mouse fibroblast NIH3T3 cells were stably transfected with an expression construct containing a truncated human c-erbB gene promoter fused to the firefly luciferase reporter gene. Infection into these cells of the c-erbB anti-gene retroviral vector targeted to the 26 bp pyrimidine-rich element in the human c-erbB gene promoter resulted in a dose-dependent decrease in the luciferase activity of the cells. Retroviral vector expressing anti-gene RNA may be useful as an alternative program of gene regulation in the cells.