Evaluation and treatment of patients with progessive immunosuppression
AssigneesThe United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services, Regents of the University of Minnesota
InventorsAugusto C. Ochoa, Hiromoto Mizoguchi, John J. O'Shea, Dan L. Longo, Cynthia M. Loeffler
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Abstract
A method of determining the level of immunosuppression in a mammal involves determining the level of expression of at least one selected TCR subunit protein, or protein in the T lymphocyte signal transduction pathway, and comparing the level to that found in healthy individuals. The method is useful to identify patients having T lymphocytes capable of activation for autologous adoptive immunotherapy and for identifying agents which cause or reverse immunosuppression.
Claims6
A method of identifying patients having T lymphocytes capable of activation for autologous adoptive immunotherapy, comprising the steps of:
- a. directly determining, in a lymphocyte preparation from a patient being evaluated for immunosuppression, the level of expression of at least one selected TCR subunit protein or protein in the T lymphocyte signal transduction pathway, said protein being selected from the group consisting of .zeta., CD3 .gamma., FC.epsilon..gamma., and Lck;
- and
- b. comparing said level of protein expression with the normal level of expression of said protein found in healthy individuals, and selecting patients whose level of expression of said protein is at or above the threshold level for response to activation for adoptive immunotherapy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.