Detecting CYP24 expression level as a marker for predisposition to cancer

US7648826B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• The Regents of the University of California · US

Inventors

• Donna G. Albertson · Lafayette, US
• Daniel Pinkel · Lafayette, US
• Colin Collins · San Rafael, US
• Joe W. Gray · Livermore, US
• Bauke Ystra · San Francisco, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 2, 1999
• Grant date: Jan 19, 2010
• Expiry date: Apr 2, 2019

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T436/25
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

This invention pertains to the discovery that an amplification of the CYP24 gene or an increase in CYP24 activity is a marker for the presence of, progression of, or predisposition to, a cancer (e.g., breast cancer). Using this information, this invention provides methods of detecting a predisposition to cancer in an animal. The methods involve (i) providing a biological sample from an animal (e.g. a human patient); (ii) detecting the level of CYP24 within the biological sample; and (iii) comparing the level of CYP24 with a level of CYP24 in a control sample taken from a normal, cancer-free tissue where an increased level of CYP24 in the biological sample compared to the level of CYP24 in the control sample indicates the presence of said cancer in said animal.