Nonviral minicircle vector carrying SOX gene and construction method therefor

Abstract

The present invention relates to a non-viral minicircle vector expressing a SOX gene, a stem cell into which the vector is introduced, a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating a cartilage disease, including the stem cell, and a method for constructing the vector. The transformation of mesenchymal stem cells with MC/SOX-Trio or MC/SOX-Duo, which is a non-viral minicircle vector according to the present invention, can completely exclude the necessity of expensive growth factors that have been indispensably used in inducing the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into chondrocytes. Accordingly, the mesenchymal stem cells transformed therewith, when implanted in vivo, can differentiate into chondrocytes by themselves, and thus have an advantage capable of simplifying the existing complicated steps of culturing cells to induce differentiation and then transplanting the cells. Further, unlike existing vector systems in which antibiotic-resistant genes and other bacteria-derived exogenous genes are simultaneously transferred to cells even after transformation, the vector of the present invention minimizes transfer of unnecessary genes into target cells by allowing two or three SOX genes necessary only for differentiation into chondrocytes to be regulated under one promoter, and thus can be utilized as a non-viral vector system in the most advantageous form for use in clinical application of stem cell-gene therapeutic agents.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.