Frontiers in Bioscience-Scholar (FBS) is published by IMR Press from Volume 13 Issue 1 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.
Assessment of hypoxia and TNF-α response by a vector with HRE and NF-kappaB response elements
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Hypoxia and inflammatory cytokine activation (H&I) are common processes in many acute and chronic diseases. Thus, a single vector that responds to both hypoxia and inflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α, is useful for assesing the severity of such diseases. Adaptation to hypoxia is regulated primarily by hypoxia inducible transcription factor (HIFα) nuclear proteins that engage genes containing a hypoxia response element (HRE). Inflammation activates a multitude of cytokines, including TNF-α, that invariably modulate activation of the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) transcription factor. We constructed a vector that encompassed both a hypoxia response element (HRE), and a NF-kappaB responsive element. We show that this vector was functionally responsive to both hypoxia and TNF-α, in vitro and in vivo. Thus, this vector might be suitable for the detection and assessment of hypoxia or TNF-α.