Construction of human ARF4 lentiviral vector and stable expression in ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3

Objective To establish ovarian cancer cell line SKVO3 that can stably express human ADP ribosylation factor-4 (ARF4). Methods A eukaryotic expression vector pCDH-CMV-MCS-EF1-Puro/ARF4 was constructed and transfected into SKOV3 cells after verifying by DNA sequencing. The expression of ARF4 mRNA was verified by real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR). Then, the recombinant plasmid with lentiviral packaging plasmids were co-transfected into SKOV3 cells for packaging. The recombinant lentiviral particles LV-ARF4 were collected and transfected into SKOV3 cells, and the stable transfected SKOV3 cell line was screening by culture with puromycin. The expression of ARF4 gene was detected by qRT-PCR and Western Blot. Results A eukaryotic expression vector pCDH-CMV-MCS-EF1-Puro/ARF4 was successfully constructed. The vector could significantly up-regulate the expression of ARF4 mRNA in SKOV3 cells and be successfully packaged into recombinant lentiviral particles in HEK-293T cells. Compared with the control group, the relative expression level of ARF4 mRNA and protein in SKOV3 cells was significantly increased after the infection with LV-ARF4 (all P<0.001). Conclusion The recombinant plasmid pCDH-CMV-MCS-EF1-Puro/ARF4 and lentiviral vector LV-ARF4 were successfully constructed. The establishment of stably infected SKOV3 cell line with LV-ARF4 provides an experimental foundation for further studies on the biological function of ARF4 in ovarian cancer. Key words: Gene cloning; Lentiviral vector; ADP-ribosylation factor 4; SKOV3 cell line