Characterization of a second secreted IgE isoform and identification of an asymmetric pathway of IgE assembly

摘要

A number of alternatively spliced ε tran- scripts have been detected in IgE-producing B cells, in addi- tion to the mRNAs encoding the classical membrane and secreted IgE heavy (H) chains. In a recent study, we examined the protein products of three of these alternatively spliced isoforms and found that they are intracellularly retained and degraded because of their inability to assemble into complete IgE molecules.