Loss of ligand-binding specificity of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 by RNA splicing in human chondrosarcoma cells

We have previously reported the alternatively spliced transcripts of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) 3 derived by aberrant splicing in human cancers. Here, we describe a novel splice variant of FGFR2 (FGFR2ΔIII) arising from skipping exons 7–10, resulting in the deletion of Ig-like-III domain in human chondrosarcoma cell. Sf9 cells expressing FGFR2ΔIII were able to bind FGF1, FGF2, and FGF7, leading to loss of ligand-binding specificity. Together with our previous findings, the present studies suggest that mRNA splicing plays an important role in the regulation of FGFRs’ function.