Method for Detection of Melanoma

Abstract

The present invention provides non-invasive methods for detecting, monitoring, staging, and diagnosing malignant melanoma in a skin sample of a subject. The methods include analyzing expression in skin sample of one or more melanoma skin markers. The melanoma skin markers include IL-1 RI, endothelin-2, ephrin-A5, IGF Binding Protein 7, HLA-A0202 heavy chain, Activin A (βA subunit), TNF RII, SPC4, and CNTF Rα. The skin sample can include nucleic acids, and can be a human skin sample from a lesion suspected of being melanoma.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 184,846 filed Jun. 27, 2002, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,297,480; which claims the benefit under 35 USC § 119(e) to U.S. Application Ser. No. 60 / 302,348 filed Jun. 28, 2001, now abandoned. The disclosure of each of the prior applications is considered part of and is incorporated by reference in the disclosure of this application.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]This invention relates to methods related to melanoma patient for detecting expression of genes in a skin sample of the epidermis related to malignant melanoma.[0004]2. Background Information[0005]Malignant melanoma ranks second among adult cancers (behind adult leukemia) in potential years of life lost. Each year, over 47,000 new cases are diagnosed, and the incidence of cutaneous melanoma appears to be rising rapidly. Treatment of malignant melanoma involves surgical exci...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides methods for detecting, staging, and monitoring melanoma in a non-invasive way using gene expression analysis of melanoma skin markers. These markers include IL-1 RI, endothelin-2, ephrin-A5, IGF Binding Protein 7, HLA-A0202 heavy chain, Activin A (βA subunit), TNF RII, SPC4, and CNTF Rα. The methods involve analyzing expression levels of these markers in a skin sample and comparing them to a control. The invention provides a non-invasive way to detect melanoma and aid in its management."

Problems solved by technology

Currently, there is no approved therapy for patients having intermediate risk of relapse.

There is no cure at this time for patients in whom metastasis to distant sites has occurred.

Erroneously excised lesions are costly for the public and cause scars often in cosmetically important body regions.

Furthermore, even after a lesion is taken out differentiation of benign melanocytic lesions from melanomas can be very difficult in a subset of about 10-15%, even for skilled dermatopathologists.

In addition, histological examination of cancer cells does not adequately reflect the complicated series of molecular events underlying the neoplastic process.

However, cultured cells lack the regulatory elements contributed by neighboring cells that affect gene expression in vivo, such as cell-cell communication molecules, soluble factors, and extracellular matrix molecules.

Preservation of mRNA in tissue samples in the clinical setting is challenging, since RNA is very labile and is susceptible to abundant tissue RNases (Liotta and Petricoin, Nature Reviews / Genetics 1:48-56, 2000).

A disadvantage to this approach is the level of expertise and instrumentation required to select the pathological cells from the biopsied tissue sample.

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