The pancreas is a glandular organ that functions in the digestive system and endocrine\nsystem of vertebrates. The most common disorders involving the pancreas are diabetes, pancreatitis,\nand pancreatic cancer. In vivo gene delivery targeting the pancreas is important for preventing or\ncuring such diseases and for exploring the biological function of genes involved in the pathogenesis\nof these diseases. Our previous experiments demonstrated that adult murine pancreatic cells can\nbe efficiently transfected by exogenous plasmid DNA following intraparenchymal injection and\nsubsequent in vivo electroporation using tweezer-type electrodes. Unfortunately, the induced gene\nexpression was transient. Transposon-based gene delivery, such as that facilitated by piggyBac (PB),\nis known to confer stable integration of a gene of interest (GOI) into host chromosomes, resulting\nin sustained expression of the GOI. In this study, we investigated the use of the PB transposon\nsystem to achieve stable gene expression when transferred into murine pancreatic cells using the\nabove-mentioned technique. Expression of the GOI (coding for fluorescent protein) continued for at\nleast 1.5 months post-gene delivery. Splinkerette-PCR-based analysis revealed the presence of the\nconsensus sequence TTAA at the junctional portion between host chromosomes and the transgenes;\nhowever, this was not observed in all samples. This plasmid-based PB transposon system enables\nconstitutive expression of the GOI in pancreas for potential therapeutic and biological applications.
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