Signal peptide capable of efficiently directing many protein secretion in mammalian cells is one of the key elements in recombinant protein production,gene therapy and the development of DNA vaccines.In order to explore the possibility of rat growth hormone signal peptide as such an element,a new vector based on the mammalian expression vector pcDNA3 was constructed by employing rat growth hormone(rGH) signal peptide as leading sequence,followed by multiple cloning sites,the myc epitope-tag and 6×his purification tag in the expression cassette.The vector was validated by successfully expressing and secretion of chick MMP-2 C-terminal PEX domain,a potential angiogenesis inhibitor,and tandem peptide repeats of myc epitope-tag in COS-7 cells.These results suggest that rat growth hormone signal peptide is effective in the mediation of recombinant protein expression and secretion,and this vector provides a new tool for universal cloning and secretion of exogenous proteins in mammalian cells.
