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Updated: Sep 7, 2025

Production of Double-stranded DNA Ministrings
Published on: February 29, 2016
Construction of Minicircle Suicide Genes Coding for Ribosome-Inactivating Proteins
Alexander Sonntag1, Hardy Mitdank1, Alexander Weng2
1Institute of Pharmacy, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
Due to the lower risks of adverse effects, nonviral gene therapy is a suitable alternative to transfect cancer cells with a suicide gene to let them kill themselves by expressing toxic ribosome-inactivating proteins. Plasmids are stable and easy-to-produce vectors, but they have some disadvantages due to the bacterial backbone. Applying the minicircle technology, this problem can be solved with manageable effort in a well-equipped laboratory. With the described methodology, minicircle-DNA can be produced at low costs. The cell killing properties are monitored following transfection using the CytoSMART® Omni system-a camera based live cell imaging device.
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