pDRIVE-CCKAR

Cholecystokinin (CCK) in pDRIVE expression plasmid

Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a gut peptide hormone known to stimulate postprandial gallbladder contraction and pancreatic enzyme secretion. CCK plays also an important role in pancreatic carcinogenesis. The CCK-A receptor (CCKAR) is predominantly expressed in human pancreatic cancer [1]. A 0.7 kb fragment of the CCKAR promoter was reported to drive the expression of the luciferase gene selectively in pancreatic cancer cells and in not normal cells [2]. This fragment lacks a typical TATA box but contains two GC-box motifs [3].

References:

1. Moonka R. et al., 1999. Cholecystokinin-A receptor messenger RNA expression in human pancreatic cancer. J Gastrointest Surg. 3(2):134-40.
2. Li Z. et al., 2005. Suppression of pancreatic tumor progression by systemic delivery of a pancreatic-cancer-specific promoter driven Bik mutant. Cancer Lett. 236(1):58-63.
3. Takata Y, et al., 2002. Promoter analysis of human cholecystokinin type-A receptor gene. J Gastroenterol. 37(10):815-20.