Utilization of Glycosaminoglycans/Proteoglycans as Carriers for Targeted Therapy Delivery

Figure 4

Alternative splicing in CD44 pre-mRNA. CD44 pre-mRNA is encoded by 20 exons. The common CD44s (hematopoietic) form contains no extra exons, and the protein may have a serine motif encoded in exon 5 that initiates synthesis of a chondroitin sulfate or dermatan sulfate chain. Alternative splicing of CD44 predominantly involves variable insertion of 10 extra exons with combinations of exons 6–15 and spliced in v1–v10 into the stem region, of which v3 encodes a substitution site for a heparan sulfate chain. Variable numbers of the v exons can be spliced in epithelial cells, endothelial cells, and inflammatory monocytes and also upregulated commonly on neoplastic transformation depending on the tissue.