CD44CR1 Pathway

About CD44CR1 Pathway

The CD44 antigen is a multi-structural and multifunctional cell surface glycoprotein involved in cell proliferation, cell differentiation, cell migration, angiogenesis. CD44 is highly expressed in many cancers and has been implicated in tumorigenesis and metastasis. The up-regulation of CD44 has served as a marker for tumor initiating cells in breast cancer and other cancer types.

The mechanism that leads to a high level of CD44 expression is that some trans-acting factors, like NFkB or AP-1, interact with a cis-element, the conserved region 1 (CR1), located upstream of the CD44 promoter. Inhibition of NFkB can lead to down-regulation of CD44 expression. This CD44 expression regulation pathway provides the potential therapeutic targets.

How to monitor CD44CR1 Pathway

GenTarget developed a set of reporting lentivirus to monitor CD44 promoter pathway regulation. Those lentivirus expresses a report (firefly Luciferases, Renilla luciferase, GFP or RFP) under CD44 promoter contain its CR1 region (CD44CR1) (click to see the entire promoter sequence). The following scheme demonstrated the core-expression cassette:

The report’s expression will be increased when a trans-activator, like NFkB, binds to this promoter region. The report signal level is the result of activation the CD44 promoter. The reporter’s signal can be easily and rapidly readout via all types of assays (luciferase assay or by fluorescent microscope or FACS).

Product Features:

The premade, ready-to-use reporter lentivirus provides an easier, sensitive and quantitative tool to monitor the activity of CD44CR1 signaling pathways in virtually any mammalian cell type. It also allows to generate your own reporting cell line in your desired cell type for study or screen of pathway specific gene-knockdown, over-expression, or chemical / drug/protein treatment in the cell based assay. For product details, click the Product Manual.