Expression of a splice variant of the platelet-activating factor receptor transcript 2 in various human cancer cell lines

PLATELET-ACTIVATING factor receptor (PAF-R) transcripts were analysed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in five human cancer cell lines derived from the breast (BT20, SKBR3 and T47D cells), the pancreas (Miapaca cells) and the bladder ( 5637 cells) in order to confirm the existence of a splice variant of the PAF-R transcript 2. After cloning and sequencing, we confirmed its existence in all cell lines. It consisted of the PAF-R transcript 2 lengthening with 82 nucleotides from the 3' end of exon 1 of the PAF-R gene. The role of this elongated form of the tissue-type PAF-R transcript in cell physiology remains to be elucidated.