Günthert U. CD44 variant isoforms in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: a new independent prognostic

Isoforms of the transmembrane glycoprotein CD44, gener-ated by alternative RNA splicing, have been correlated to tumor dissemination. For evaluation of the potential role of CD44 variant isoforms in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), the presence of CD44 isoforms was analyzed in a large panel of reactive and neoplastic lymphoid tissues by immunohis-tochemical staining, as well as detection of CD44 variant RNAs by the revem transcriptase-polymerase chain reac-tion. Whereas the CD44 standard or hematopoietic isoform (CD44s1, devoid of the variant regions, was expressed in all leukocyte subpopulations, the variant isoforms (CD44v) showed a highly restricted pattern of expression, mainly ob-Y MEDIATING A VARETY of adhesive processes in cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, the highly glyco-sylated cell surface protein, CD44, has been implicated i