VIRAL PROMOTER EXPRESSION IN CEM-C7 AND JURKAT HUMAN T-LYMPHOID CELL-LINES

The strength of various viral promoters was examined in human T lympho blastoid cell lines. CMV, RSV and SV40 promoter based-luciferase const ructs were transiently transfected into CEM-C7 and Jurkat cells in ord er to compare promoter strength in each cell type. It was found that t he CMV promoter was 10-fold stronger than the RSV promoter in Jurkat c ells, but equivalent to the RSV promoter in CEM-C7 cells. Both the CMV and RSV promoters were significantly stronger than the SV40 promoter in Jurkat and CEM-C7 cells. In summary, promoter strengths are cell li ne specific (Jurkat: CMV > RSV much greater than SV40; CEM-C7: RSV = C MV much greater than SV40) and care must be exercised in choosing prom oters intended to provide overexpression of chimeric genes. (C) 1997 E lsevier Science B.V.