Stable luciferase transfected cells for studying steroid receptor biological activity
✍ Scribed by Gagne, Didier ;Balaguer, Patrick ;Demirpence, Ediz ;Chabret, Claude ;Trousse, Françoise ;Nicolas, Jean-Claude ;Pons, Michel
- Book ID
- 102762102
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1994
- Weight
- 758 KB
- Volume
- 9
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0884-3996
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
In the course of steroid hormone research, firefly luciferase was used as a reporter gene t o construct chimeric cellular models in which the firefly luciferase expression mimics natural hormonal response. Cells containing the endogenous receptor of interest were stably transfected w i t h a reporter gene whose expression is controlled by this endogenous receptor. Based on the detection of luciferase activity in intact cells using a photon-counting camera, various stable transfected cell lines were established. We present potential experimental uses of these cellular models such as for screening new (anti)hormonal molecules. We also show that the hormonal responses can be modulated at any step, suggesting that these stable cell lines may be helpful in studying hormonal interactions. For example, we have detected the antiestrogen activity o f molecules able t o mediate their effect via a pathway other than the estrogen receptor. Lastly, we show that the detection of luciferase activity in intact living cells is particularly helpful in investigating the variation of the hormonal responses w i t h time.
Since chimeric response faithfully reflects hormone (or effector) actions in the cell, w e conclude that stable transfected cells can be used in both pharmacological and fundamental studies t o investigate different aspects of the endocrine research.