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US 7,781,179 B2Granted
Identification and isolation of transitional cell carcinoma stem cells
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
InventorsIrving L. Weissman, Keith S. Chan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Transitional cell carcinoma stem cells (TCCSC) are identified. The cells can be prospectively isolated or identified from primary tumor samples, and are shown to possess the unique properties of cancer stem cells in functional assays for cancer stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, and in cancer diagnosis.
Claims8
A method for characterizing a transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) from a patient, the method comprising:
- contacting a sample of said transitional cell carcinoma with reagents specific for CD44 and specific for CK5;
- quantitating the number of CD44+ CK5+ cancer cells;
- wherein the presence of CD44+ CK5+ cancer cells is indicative of the presence of TCC cancer stem cells.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.