Alternative splicing of interleukin-7 (IL-7) and interleukin-7 receptor alpha (IL-7Ralpha) in peripheral blood from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

IL-7 and IL-7Ralpha (IL-7R) form a non-redundant ligand receptor system which plays a crucial role in human T cell immunity. Both IL-7 and IL-7R are multi-exonal genes and exhibit alternative splicing. We measured the relative distribution of IL-7 and IL-7R spliced mRNA from patients with MS and healthy individuals and observed extensive alternative splicing of both genes with marked differences in proportional transcript expression levels.