Method for detecting pathological conditions

A method for the determination of the presence of a malignant or premalignant condition or for the determination of the risk for the development of a malignant or a premalignant condition in human colonic mucosa, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) isolating RNA from human colonic tissue that is to be determined;
• (b) preparing a probe using RNA from step (a);
• (c) hybridizing the probe from said human colonic tissue to a plurality of cloned gene sequences in a strain of E. coli on filter media, said cloned gene sequences being derived from malignant or premalignant human colon tissue to form a plurality of hybridized probes;
• (d) labeling said plurality of hybridized probes with a radioactive tracer;
• (e) detecting the degree of hybridization by radiation detecting means that measure the intensity of the tracer on said hybridized probes;
• (f) converting the measured intensity of the said tracer to digital data;
• and
• (g) comparing the digital data obtained in step (f) with a known standard to determine the existence of said malignant or premalignant tissue.

A method for the determination of the presence of a premalignant condition in human tissue or for the determination of risk for development of a premalignant condition in human tissue, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) isolating RNA from tissue that is to be determined;
• (b) preparing a probe using RNA from step (a);
• (c) hybridizing to the probe of step (b) a plurality of cloned gene sequences, which are unrestricted as to function, from a human colon carcinoma cell line to form a plurality of hybridized probes;
• (d) exposing the hybridized probe to detecting means to quantify the extend of hybridization;
• and
• (e) comparing the extent of the hybridization obtained in step (d) with a known standard to determine the existence of premalignant tissue or the presence of risk for development of a premalignant condition in human tissue.