[Expression of CD44 variant form in human renal cell carcinoma]

To examine whether renal cell carcinoma display altered CD44 expression we performed reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis of CD44 in the tissues resected from 19 patients with renal cell carcinoma and 6 renal cancer cell lines. To detect the CD44 variants, we utilized the RT-PCR Southern blot method reported by Matsumura et al. In 12 of 17 (70.6%) cases, about a 700 base pairs band was emphasized in cancerous tissues compared with normal kidney. Moreover, we found that this isoform is the CD44 variant sharing only exon v10. Examination by Northern blot analysis has revealed that all tumors express a higher level of CD44 variants sharing exon v10. Our findings suggest that this variant form plays some roles in renal cell carcinoma.