The term " splice variant" as used herein encompasses variants of a nucleic acid
sequence in which selected intrans and/or exons have been excised, replaced, displaced or added, or in which introns have been shortened or lengthened. Such variants will be ones in
which the biological activity of the protein is substantially retained; this may be achieved by selectively retaining functional segments of the protein. Such splice variants may be found
in nature or may be manmade. Methods for predicting and isolating such splice variants are
well known in the art (see for example