GENE-THERAPY ADVANCES - UTILIZATION OF ALTERNATIVE SPLICING AS A CONTROL ELEMENT IN THE CHIMERIC ENZYME PRODRUG THERAPY (CEPT) APPROACH TO PRIMARY AND METASTATIC TUMORS/

Our laboratory and others have shown alternative splicing to be respon sible for the generation of the various CD44 transcripts identified to date. Based on differences in CD44 variant isoform expression between normal and malignant cancer cells, we postulate that selective killin g of primary and metastatic cancer cells may be achieved by exploiting the differences between normal and neoplastic cells to alternatively splice CD44 variant exons. This approach, although outlined here for t he CD44 complex transcriptional unit, can be similarily applied to oth er complex transcript units that undergo tissue-specific or tumor-enha nced alternative splicing.