Aberrant cryptic responsiveness of the pCAT®3- and pGL3-promoter reporter vectors

Abstract

Transfection analyses are an informative method to assess the activity of specific promoter or enhancer elements in mammalian cells. Commercially available reporter vectors can be extremely useful investigative tools for such studies. This study reports that the pCAT®3- and pGL3-promoter vectors display cryptic responsiveness to androgens when they contain a DNA insert, while the empty vector, a commonly used negative control, is nonresponsive. Our studies initially aimed to characterize novel androgen-responsive DNA sequences in human genomic DNA through transactivational analyses. An isolated DNA fragment, designated ARC-3, contained three putative androgen response element "half-sites" an..