EXPRESSION CASSETTE FOR PERSISTENCE OF EXPRESSION OF A GENE OF INTEREST IN MUSCLE CELLS

摘要

The present invention concerns the use of a nucleic acid fragment comprising a portion of at least 100 contigous nucleotide bases which portion has a sequence the same as, or homologous to a portion of corresponding length of the sequence as set out in SEQ ID NO: 1 starting at nucleotide approximately 1 and ending at nucleotide approximately 16879 or the same as, or homologous to a portion of the corresponding length of the sequence complementary to said SEQ ID NO: 1 within the specified positions, for improving the persistence of transfected cells expressing one or more gene(s) of interest operably linked to said acid nucleic fragment. The invention also relates to an expression cassette for the expression of one or more gene(s) of interest which expression is controlled by one or more control sequence(s) and a nucleic acid fragment as defined above. The present invention also provides a vector containing said expression cassette and a eukaryotic host cell containing said expression cassette or vector as well as a 15 composition comprising said expression cassette, vector or eukaryotic host cell for therapeutic or prophylactic purposes. The present invention is useful for many applications including the the construction of transgenic animal models and somatic gehe therapy, especially for treating or preventing muscle-affecting diseases.