Protein as a diagnostic of cancer
AssigneeCytra Corporation
InventorsGeoffrey J. Schmidt, Kenneth L. Hoffman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The presence of A-protein in an abnormally large amount in a sample, such as blood, from an individual is diagnostic of primary or metastatic cancer in the individual. The presence of A-protein is most readily detected by immunological reaction of it with specific antibodies. A preferred procedure for detecting the presence of A-protein in samples is by a sandwich assay using two antibodies with different epitopic specificities for A-protein.
Claims34
A method of detecting the presence of cancer in an individual comprising:
- (a) obtaining a biological sample from said individual;
- (b) incubating said biological sample with at least one antibody which is immunoreactive with A-protein;
- (c) detecting immunoconjugates which form as a consequence of the incubation of step (b);
- and
- (d) relating the amount of immunoconjugates of step (c) to the presence of cancer, wherein cancer is present when said amount is greater than a threshold value.
A method of detecting the presence of a cancerous state in an individual comprising:
- (a) obtaining a liquid sample from said individual;
- (b) subjecting said liquid sample to an antibody sandwich assay wherein one of the two antibodies is immunoreactive with a peptide that has a specified sequence of approximately 16 amino acids from the A-protein amino acid sequence, and the other antibody is immunoreactive with a portion of A-protein other than said peptide with the specified approximately 16 amino acid A-protein sequence;
- (c) detecting the amount of antibody-A-protein sandwich formed in step (b);
- and
- (d) relating said amount to the presence of a cancerous state in said individual, wherein said cancerous state is present when said amount is greater than a threshold value.
A method of detecting a cancer-diagnostic protein, whose elevated level in the bloodstream of an individual is predictive that the individual has cancer, comprising:
- (a) incubating a liquid sample from said individual with an antibody that immunoreacts with a peptide that has a specified sequence of approximately 16 amino acids from the amino acid sequence of said cancer-diagnostic protein and with an antibody that immunoreacts with a portion of said cancer-diagnostic protein other than said peptide with the specified approximately 16 amino acid cancer-diagnostic protein sequence, whereby immunocomplexes between said cancer-diagnostic protein and the two antibodies are formed;
- and
- (b) detecting the amount of said immunocomplexes formed in step (a).
A method of detecting the presence of metastatic cancer in an individual comprising:
- (a) obtaining a biological sample from said individual;
- (b) incubating said biological sample with at least one antibody which is immunoreactive with A-protein;
- (c) detecting immunoconjugates which form as a consequence of the incubation of step (b);
- wherein an amount greater than a threshold value of said immunoconjugates detected in step c) is indicative of the presence of metastatic cancer in said individual.
An antibody which binds to an approximately 16 amino acid sequence of A-protein to form immunoconjugates whose presence in an amount greater than a threshold value in a biological sample is predictive of the presence of cancer in the individual from whom said biological sample was obtained, wherein said sequence of A-protein is selected from the group consisting of the 14 amino acid carboxyl terminus, the 16 amino acid carboxyl terminus, the amino acid sequence 60-71, the amino acid sequence 142-158, and the amino acid sequence 158-170.
A test kit for detecting the presence of cancer in an individual comprising:
- (a) a first antibody that immunoreacts with a peptide that has a specified sequence of approximately 16 amino acids from the amino acid sequence of a cancer-diagnostic protein;
- and
- (b) a second antibody that immunoreacts with a portion of said cancer-diagnostic protein other than said peptide with the specified approximately 16 amino acid cancer-diagnostic protein sequence.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.