Papanicolaou test for ovarian and endometrial cancers

US11525163B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · US

Inventors

• Isaac A. Kinde · Beaumont, US
• Kenneth W. Kinzler · Baltimore, US
• Bert Vogelstein · Baltimore, US
• Nickolas Papadopoulos · Towson, US
• Luis Diaz · Ellicott City, US
• Chetan Bettegowda · Charlotte, US
• Yuxuan Wang · Baltimore, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 17, 2013
• Grant date: Dec 13, 2022
• Expiry date: Jan 15, 2034

Classification

• Technology area (CPC C): Chemistry; Metallurgy
• CPC primary: C12Q2600/16
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The recently developed liquid-based Papanicolaou (Pap) smear allows not only cytologic evaluation but also collection of DNA for detection of HPV, the causative agent of cervical cancer. We tested these samples to detect somatic mutations present in rare tumor cells that might accumulate in the cervix once shed from endometrial and ovarian cancers. A panel of commonly mutated genes in endometrial and ovarian cancers was assembled and used to identify mutations in all 46 endometrial or cervical cancer tissue samples. We were able also able to identify the same mutations in the DNA from liquid Pap smears in 100% of endometrial cancers (24 of 24) and in 41% of ovarian cancers (9 of 22). We developed a sequence-based method to query mutations in 12 genes in a single liquid Pap smear without prior knowledge of the tumor's genotype.