Patent of the Week: A Predictive Gene Signature for Breast Cancer Therapy

Inventors, including University of Chicago researcher Edwardine Labay, have patented a seven-gene signature that can be used to assess the risk of breast cancer progression and treatment response.

The invention covers a tumor characterization method as well as a method for identifying the gene signature marker. It also includes a “kit” for performing the method of characterizing a tumor.

“Individualization of cancer management requires prognostic markers and therapy-predictive markers,” the researchers explained in a paper. “Prognostic markers assess risk of disease progression independent of therapy, whereas therapy-predictive markers identify patients whose disease is sensitive or resistant to treatment.”

Additionally, as most cancer treatments have undesirable side effects, using predictive markers eliminates “unnecessary risk of adverse side effects by reducing administration of cancer treatments to individuals for whom treatment is likely to fail.”

// Read more:

• An interferon-related gene signature for DNA damage resistance is a predictive marker for chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
• Expression signature of IFN/STAT1 signaling genes predicts poor survival outcome in glioblastoma multiforme in a subtype-specific manner – PLoS ONE
• IRDS: Predictive 7-Gene Signature for Breast Cancer Therapy – Polsky Tech Publisher

// Patent of the Week is a weekly column highlighting research and inventions from University of Chicago faculty.