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| Licensing & Royalties >> Licensing Opportunities >> Abstract Details |
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| Tools to Identify Candidates for Effective Cancer Therapy: Antibodies to Human Asparagine Synthetase |
Description of Invention:
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed peptide-specific polyclonal antibodies against human asparagine synthetase (ASNS), the enzyme that forms asparagine from aspartate using ATP. ASNS serves as a key biomarker for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and other malignancies because these cancer cells express little or no ASNS compared to normal cells. As a result, these leukemia cells must acquire asparagine from the bloodstream to survive and proliferate to form tumors. Patients with ALL can be treated with L-asparaginase (L-ASP) to break down asparagine in the body and starve leukemia cells by preventing them from acquiring asparagine. The anti-ASNS antibodies could be used to detect ASNS levels in patient samples to help select patients that could benefit from L-ASP therapy. Studies at the NIH have shown that L-ASP therapy may prove to be a useful treatment for other types of cancer besides leukemia.
Applications:
- Diagnostic tool to detect levels of asparagine synthetase (ASNS) in human samples to identify cancer patients that can benefit from L-asparaginase (L-ASP) treatment
- Screening tool to identify other cancer cell types treatable by L-ASP therapy, such as ovarian cancer cells, which show diminished ASNS levels
- Research tool to quantitate levels of ASNS in laboratory procedures, including various immunoassays, flow cytometry, and tissue sample analysis
Advantages:
These antibodies have been validated in immunoassays that showed that ASNS expression in a strong predictor of L-ASP efficacy in NCI-60 ovarian cancer cell lines.
Inventors:
Paul K Goldsmith (NCI)
Patent Status:
HHS, Reference No. E-101-2006/0
Research Tool -- patent protection is not being pursued for this technology
Relevant Publication:
- PL Lorenzi et al. Asparagine synthetase as a causal, predictive biomarker for L-asparaginase activity in ovarian cancer cells. Mol Cancer Ther. 2006 Nov;5(11):2613-2623. [PubMed abs]
- KJ Bussey et al. Integrating data on DNA copy number with gene expression levels and drug sensitivities in the NCI-60 cell line panel. Mol Cancer Ther. 2006 Apr;5(4):853-867. [PubMed abs]
Licensing Status:
Available for licensing under a Biological Materials License Agreement.
For Licensing Information Please Contact:
Samuel Bish Ph.D.
NIH Office of Technology Transfer
6011 Executive Blvd. Suite 325,
Rockville, MD 20852
United States
Email: bishse@mail.nih.gov
Phone: 301-435-5282
Fax: 301-402-0220
Ref No: 1962
Updated: 05/2009
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