Alternative splicing of the erythropoietin receptor gene correlates with erythroid differentiation in rat hematopoietic and leukemic cells

An alternative splicing of the rat erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) gene was identified in normal and erythroleukemia cells. A 105 bp insert was found at a region corresponding to the extracellular domain of EpoR. The alternative transcript was translated to a soluble EpoR (EpoR-S) expressed in spleen, bone marrow, and cultured erythroleukemia cells in addition to the full-length EpoR (EpoR-F). One of the rat erythroleukemia sublines, K4DT, which partially lost erythroid phenotypes and manifested monocyte/macrophage characteristics also lacked EpoR-S expression. Thus, expression of EpoR-S may play an important role in differentiation of rat erythroid cells.