Detection methods for disorders of the lung
AssigneeTrustees of Boston University
InventorsJerome Brody, Avrum Spira
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention is directed to prognostic and diagnostic methods to assess lung disease risk caused by airway pollutants by analyzing expression of one or more genes belonging to the airway transcriptome provided herein. Based on the finding of a so called “field defect” affecting the airways, the invention further provides a minimally invasive sample procurement method in combination with the gene expression-based tools for the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases of the lung, particularly diagnosis and prognosis of lung cancer.
Claims11
A method of determining an individual at increased risk of developing a lung disease comprising examining a biological sample obtained from the airways of an individual exposed to an airway pollutant or at risk of being exposed to an airway pollutant and analyzing the expression pattern of at least one gene from a group of genes displaying deviation in the expression of one or more of the airway genes as compared to the expression of the same at least one gene in a group of control individuals, wherein the deviation is indicative that the individual has an increased risk of developing a lung disease.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.