Abstract
miR-21 is highly expressed in a variety of cancers, suggesting that it might play a role in the process of oncogenesis, as supported by it directly causing pre-B cell lymphomas in transgenic mice. Rm21LG transgenic mice for the conditional co-expression of miR-21 and luciferase (Luc) mediated by Cre/lox P system were generated. The homozygous Rm21LG transgenic mice were visually and readily characterized immediately after birth by whole-body fluorescence imaging. More importantly, miR-21 and Luc were successfully activated in the liver of Rm21LG/Alb-Cre double-transgenic mice, demonstrating that Rm21LG conditional transgenic system could work in a Cre-dependent manner. The combined use of this conditional miR-21 transgenic mouse line, various cell/tissue-specific Cre mouse lines and bioluminescence imaging will be a valuable tool in vivo to uncover the functions of miR-21 as oncomiR in initiating tumors.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Prof. Manuela Martins-Green (University of California) for generously providing pRLG plasmid. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 81172587, 81100573), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China (Grant No. S2012010009212), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (Grant No. 10ykpy21).
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Tao Du and Junshuang Jia have contributed equally to this work.
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Du, T., Jia, J., Lin, X. et al. Generation of Rm21LG transgenic mice: a powerful tool to generate conditional overexpression of miR-21 that is involved in oncogenesis. Biotechnol Lett 36, 9–20 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-013-1327-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-013-1327-y