Figure 2.

Theoretically, alternative splicing of the hTERT transcript may lead to many isoforms. The α site causes a 36-base deletion resulting in a no-frameshift mutation, and the β splice site results in a 182-base deletion resulting in a nonsense mutation. The γ splice site induces a 189-base deletion resulting in a no-frameshift mutation. The size of the PCR products produced by each primer set depends upon the alternative splicing of the hTERT transcript in the samples. The Adel-F and ex6-F primers were forward primers, and ex11-R and Gdel-R were reverse primers.