FIGURE 3.
Identification of a novel TRAIL splice variant, TRAIL-s. A, genomic organization of TRAIL indicating the exon structure of transcripts encoding TRAIL-α, β, and γ. The arrows indicate primers used to identify all three variants. B, RT-PCR from RNA of mock- or HIV-infected Jurkat cells was performed a sense primer in exon 1 and an antisense primer in exon 5, indicating the presence of a novel splice variant in HIV-infected cells that we termed TRAIL-s. Where indicated, azidothymidine (AZT) or nelfinavir (NFV) were added. C, nucleotide and amino acid sequence of TRAIL-s (GenBankTM accession number DQ848564). D, quantitative RT-PCR for TRAIL and for TRAIL-s of PBL from five different donors with or without HIV IIIb infection. E, Western blot for TRAIL-s using TRAIL-s specific antibody. F, the specificity of the antibody is demonstrated by absorbing the antibody with GST TRAIL-s prior to immunoblot.