N- and C-terminal isoforms of Arg quantified by real-time PCR are specifically expressed in human normal and neoplastic cells, in neoplastic cell lines, and in HL-60 cell differentiation

The human ABL2 (or ARG) gene codes for a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase is involved in translocation with the ETV6 gene in human leukemia and has an altered expression in several human carcinomas. Two isoforms of Arg with different N-termini (1A and 1B) have been described. The C-terminal domain of Arg contains two F-actin-binding sequences that perform a number of actions related to cell morphology and motility by interacting with actin filaments. We have identified different-sized specific cDNAs in hematopoietic, epithelial, nervous, and fibroblastic cells by means of the reverse transcription (RT)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of human Arg mRNA. Some of these cDNAs showed an adjunctive alternative splice event involving the 63 bp sequence of exon II, thus leading to four cDNA types with different N-termini: 1A long and short, and 1B long and short. Other cDNAs lacked a 309 bp sequence in the last exon involving one of the C-terminal F-actin binding domains, thus giving rise to two cDNA types: C-termini long and short. Quantified by real-time PCR-quantitative RT-PCR-these Arg transcript isoforms have specific expression patterns not only in different normal and tumor cell types, but also during cell differentiation and growth arrest. These isoforms maintained the open reading frames, and eight putative proteins were predicted. The different C-termini isoforms seem to retain the same quantitative reciprocal ratio of their respective transcripts. The Arg protein isoforms with different C-terminal actin-binding domains and different N-termini might have specific cellular localizations/concentrations, and differently regulated catalytic activity with different implications in normal and neoplastic cells.