Enhancing Gene Delivery in NB-4 Cells: Overcoming Transduction and Selection Challenges

Autor: Stefano Leto, Sonakshi Gehlot, Bhavwanti Sheth, Stefano Ratti, Lucia Manzoli, Nullin Divecha, Roberta Fiume
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Cells, Vol 13, Iss 22, p 1849 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2073-4409
DOI: 10.3390/cells13221849
Popis: Efficient gene transduction and cell viability are critical factors in genetic manipulation for research and therapeutic purposes. In this study, we explored the challenges associated with transducing the NB-4 cell line, a well-established model for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), using lentiviral vectors. While the initial transduction efficiency in NB-4 cells reached approximately 30%, we observed a significant decrease in cell viability, a phenomenon not observed in other acute leukemia cell lines such as THP-1 cells. We identified that this toxicity could be mitigated by purifying viral particles through ultracentrifugation or polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation, indicating that toxic substances, potentially secondary metabolites released by HEK293, could be responsible for the cell death. Nevertheless, cell selection by puromycin was still ineffective; crucially, we discovered that the human phosphoglycerate kinase (hPGK) promoter, commonly used in the PLKO1 vector, may become silenced in NB-4 cells, preventing effective selection with puromycin. By replacing the hPGK promoter with the elongation factor-1 alpha (EF1α) promoter, we successfully achieved high transduction efficiency and robust selection, demonstrating the potential for this modified vector system to facilitate genetic studies in APL models. These findings provide important insights into optimizing gene transduction protocols not only for NB-4 cells but also for other challenging cell lines, offering a refined approach for gene delivery and selection in cell models.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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