As an alternative splicing has been reported for ADAM-12 and as the secreted short form of ADAM-12 (ADAM-12S) was described to be expressed by tumours such as rhabdomyosarcoma and HU-1 cells (Gilpin et al, 1998), we assessed our tumour samples for the expression of ADAM-12L and ADAM-12S by specific RT–PCR. This evidence concerns the gene ADAM12 and rhabdomyosarcoma.