The Role of Hyaluronan and CD44 in the Pathogenesis of Lupus Nephritis

Figure 1

Genomic structure of CD44. The gene encoding for human CD44 consists of 20 exons. The standard form of CD44 contains exons 1–5, 16–18, and 20. Variants forms of CD44 comprise the standard form of CD44 and the insertion of various combinations of variant exons (v1–v10). Exon 19 is normally absent in most CD44 transcripts and its inclusion results in a shorter variant form of CD44.