title: Regulation of alternative splicing of CD44 in cancer.
abstract: CD44 is a hyaluronan binding cell surface signal transducing receptor that influences motility, cell survival and proliferation as well as the formation of tumor microenvironment. CD44 contains two variable regions encoded by variable exons. Alternative splicing, which is often deregulated in cancer, can produce various isoforms of CD44 with properties that may have different tissue specific effects and therefore even diverse effects on cancer progression. This review summarizes and puts together all major regulators of alternative splicing of CD44 in cancer that have been documented so far and that have an experimentally proved effect on CD44 isoform switching. It is important to better understand the mechanisms of alternative splicing of CD44, where all the variability of CD44 originates, to be able to explain the isoform switching and occurrence of variant isoforms of CD44 (CD44v) in cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Immunotherapy, Veterinary Research Institute, Brno, Czech Republic. Electronic address: lubomir.pr@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Lubomir
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Prochazka
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Immunotherapy, Veterinary Research Institute, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Radek
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tesarik
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Immunotherapy, Veterinary Research Institute, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jaroslav
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Turanek
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors; D020033:Protein Isoforms
keywords: Alternative splicing; CD44; CD44v; CSC; EMT; Isoform switch