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Role of CD44 variant exon 6 in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: association with altered bone marrow localisation and increased tumour burden

Leukemia volume 18, pages 1308–1311 (2004)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

CD44 is a highly glycosylated transmembrane protein that modulates a variety of cellular functions including adhesion, proliferation, presentation of growth factors, apoptosis, cell migration and metastatic behaviour. CD44 is encoded by a complex gene containing 20 exons, many of which are subject to alternative mRNA splicing resulting in a large number of possible transcripts. The most common form of CD44, referred to as CD44H (haematopoietic) or CD44s (standard), is encoded by nine standard exons and has a molecular weight of approximately 90 kDa. CD44 variants contain additional exons, referred to as variant exons (v2–v10 in humans) that result in additional protein sequences being inserted into the extracellular, membrane proximal region of the protein.1

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the University of Sydney Cancer Research Fund and the Cure Cancer Foundation of Australia (LJ Bendall, A James and N Khan); the Cancer Council NSW (RB Lock and R Papa) and by NHMRC project grant #209090 and AICR project grant 02-073 (S Nilsson); S Nilsson is a RD Wright Fellow, granted from the NHMRC, Australia. We would like to thank Ms Karen Bythe for statistical analysis of the data, Ms Mary Sartor for cell sorting transduced cell lines, Dr Ian Alexander and Dr Ania Bartlet for guidance in establishing retroviral technology, Mr Julius Juarez and Dr Wei Shen for assistance with tail vein injections of the mice and Dr John Hewson for assistance with the section of the spinal column. The Children's Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research is affiliated with the University of New South Wales and Sydney Children's Hospital.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Westmead Institute of Cancer Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    L J Bendall, N I Khan, A James, C Bonnet, K F Bradstock & D J Gottlieb

  2. Stem Cell Laboratory, Peter MacCallum Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    S K Nilsson

  3. Children's Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research, New South Wales, Australia

    R B Lock & R Papa

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  1. L J Bendall
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Correspondence to L J Bendall.

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Bendall, L., Nilsson, S., Khan, N. et al. Role of CD44 variant exon 6 in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: association with altered bone marrow localisation and increased tumour burden. Leukemia 18, 1308–1311 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403393

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