[Progress of researches on liver-specific transcriptional regulatory sequence]

Gene therapy is a fast developing therapeutics in recent years. Now, the point at issue that restricts the development of gene therapy is the safety and effectivity of gene expression in space, time series and location. Tissular or cellular specific transcriptional regulatory element can make precise and effective expression of exogenous gene in specified tissue and cell, thus increasing the safety and effectivity of gene expression. This has been a hot spot in gene therapy. Now, researches indicate that hepatic tissue has liver-specific transcriptional regulatory sequence. The regulatory sequences can promote gene expression only in hepatic tissue; they are widely used in transgenic animal and gene therapy. They can serve as a basis for the researches in the pathogenic mechanism and gene therapy of liver-related diseases. New achievements in the studies on liver-specific transcriptional regulatory sequence are reviewed in this article.