Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology – Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or... – Involving antigen-antibody binding – specific binding protein...
Patent
1995-04-18
1999-08-17
Saunders, David
Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology
Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or...
Involving antigen-antibody binding, specific binding protein...
435 4, 435 721, 435 792, 435 29, 435810, 435975, 436 86, 436518, 436536, 530350, 530841, C12Q 100, G01N 3350
Patent
active
059392703
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the diagnosis and prognosis of organ rejection in a subject. More particularly, the invention relates to allograft rejection, e.g., heart transplant rejection. The invention provides immunological, biochemical, and molecular biological detection methods, and kits for use by medical practitioners for detecting rejection phenomena.
This invention particularly concerns human proteins which are predictive markers for acute allograft rejection, processes for obtaining said proteins, DNA and RNA coding for said proteins, methods of assaying biological samples from human beings for the presence, and optionally the amounts, of said proteins, an assay kit for use in said methods, polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies against each of said proteins, a method of predicting acute rejection in a human patient having undergone organ transplantation, or suffering from an autoimmune disease, inflammatory disease, or ischemic injury, and associated methods for the diagnosis of inflammation or diseases in various organ systems of the human body.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Since its inception in 1968, heart transplantation has developed into a therapeutic possibility for patients with end-stage cardiac failure. More than 230 transplantation centers have been established throughout the world, and more than 25,000 patients world-wide have undergone heart transplantation (Kaye, 1993, J. Heart Lung Transplant. 12:541-548). Initially, the major drawback following transplantation was the risk of rejection due to the recipient's own immune system. Although the introduction of immunosuppressive agents, notably cyclosporin, has improved the situation, rejection still remains an important challenge for the treatment of transplantation patients (Oyer et al., 1991, Transplant. Proc. 15(Suppl. 1):2546-2552; Burdick and Kittur, 1991, Transplant. Proc. 23:2047-2051).
Acute rejection remains the major cause of morbidity and mortality following human heart transplantation, and is a severe complication or cause of death in other organ transplantation procedures as well. Two major analytical methods are used to evaluate the state of the transplanted heart (Carrier, 1991). The first method involves evaluation of the induction and expression of immunity against the allograft, for example cytoimmunological monitoring of lymphocytes, and analysis of cellular markers (such as soluble CD-4, CD-8, IL-2 receptor, and T cell antigen receptor), cytokines, and lymphokines associated with lymphocyte activation. The second method involves evaluation of the graft function and status, e.g., by echo doppler, radiologic imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging. The first grading system of acute cellular rejection was introduced in 1973 (Caves et al., 1973, Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 66:461-466). A grading system which currently is in general use is based on the degree of infiltration and myocyte necrosis in endomyocardial biopsies and uses the grades 0, 1A, 1B, 2, 3A, 3B and 4 (Billingham et al., 1990, J. Heart Transplant. 9:588-593). While there is considerable disagreement as to which methods are the most accurate prognosticators of heart status after transplantation, it is commonly agreed that all of the approaches used in the art inadequately predict all, or even a satisfactory number of, cases of acute rejection early enough (Billingham, 1990, Prog. Cardiovasc. Dis. 33:11-18; Carrier, 1991, Can. J. Surg. 34:569-572; and Burdick and Kittur, 1991, Transplant. Proc. 23:2047-2051). In particular, the amount of lymphocytic infiltrate detected pathologically may not be helpful in diagnosing rejection episodes and determining the need for treatment (Auchincloss and Sachs, 1993, "Transplantation Graft Rejection," in Fundamental Immunology, Third Edition, William E. Paul editor, Raven Press: New York, pp. 1099-1141, 1129). Similarly, the level of soluble IL-2 receptors, while indicative of immune activation, is associated closely with viral infection as well as organ rejection. Since viral infection represen
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Boutry Marc
Carlsen J.o slashed.rn
Degand Herve
Fey Stephen John
Hauns.o slashed. Stig
Saunders David
Universite Catholique de Louvain
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