The NFκB Responsive Luciferase Reporter C2C12 Cell Line is derived from mouse myoblasts and stably expresses a firefly luciferase reporter gene under the control of an NFκB response element.
C2C12 is a widely used skeletal muscle precursor cell line, valued for its versatility. These cells can proliferate as undifferentiated myoblasts and, under appropriate conditions, differentiate into multinucleated myotubes that closely mimic skeletal muscle tissue. This unique characteristic makes C2C12 an excellent model for studying muscle biology, muscle development, and muscle-specific signaling pathways, including NFκB signaling.
NFκB plays a critical role in regulating numerous biological processes, including immune and inflammatory responses, development, cellular growth, and apoptosis. In response to various stimuli—such as stress, cytokines, free radicals, ultraviolet irradiation, and bacterial or viral antigens—NFκB becomes activated and translocates from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. There, it binds to its response elements in promoter regions, regulating the expression of a broad range of target genes. Dysregulation of NFκB activity is associated with cancer, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, and viral infections. Monitoring NFκB activity is therefore essential for understanding disease mechanisms and facilitating drug discovery.
Signosis has developed an NFκB luciferase reporter C2C12 stable cell line by transfecting cells with the pTA-NFκB-luciferase reporter vector, which contains four repeats of NFκB binding sites upstream of a minimal promoter driving firefly luciferase expression. A hygromycin expression vector was co-transfected, and hygromycin-resistant clones were selected. The resulting clones were screened for TNFα-induced luciferase activity, ensuring robust and reliable NFκB pathway responsiveness. This cell line can be used to study NFκB signaling activated by cytokines such as TNFα, various other stimuli, as well as enforced gene expression or knockdown.
