New CD20 alternative splice variants: molecular identification and differential expression within hematological B cell malignancies

Background CD20 is a B cell lineage–specific marker expressed by normal and leukemic B cells and targeted by several antibody immunotherapies. We have previously shown that the protein from a CD20 mRNA splice variant (D393-CD20) is expressed at various levels in leukemic B cells or lymphoma B cells but not in resting, sorted B cells from the peripheral blood of healthy donors.