Identifying Surface Antigens for Tumor Diagnosis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for identifying tumor-associated antigens are limited by the use of immunoeffectors from patients with advanced cancer, leading to potential tolerization and loss of effective immune recognition specificities, and have not shown solid evidence of real action in clinical studies.
Innovation Solution
A strategy involving data mining of human protein and nucleic acid databases to identify cancer-specific antigens accessible on the cell surface, using high-throughput methodologies to evaluate genes for transmembrane domains, homology searches, and subsequent laboratory experiments to validate aberrant activation in tumors, combining bioinformatic and experimental approaches.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If immunoeffectors from patients with advanced cancer are used to identify tumor-associated antigens, then immune recognition specificities can be obtained, but tolerization occurs and effective immune recognition specificities are lost
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using immunoeffectors from patients with advanced cancer (conventional approach), the patent inverts the approach by using immunoeffectors from healthy individuals or patients with early-stage disease. This reversal avoids the tolerization problem that occurs in advanced cancer patients while still obtaining relevant immune recognition specificities against tumor-associated antigens.
2Ease of manufacture
If classical therapeutic procedures are used, then treatment can be administered, but cancers remain leading causes of death despite exhaustive use
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces tumor-associated antigens as intermediaries between the therapeutic agent and the patient's immune system. By identifying and utilizing specific tumor-associated antigens that are recognized by the immune system, the therapy mediates a targeted immune response against cancer cells, bridging the gap between conventional treatment and effective cancer elimination.
3Adaptability or versatility
If tumor vaccines and antibody therapy are used, then immune system intervention can be enhanced, but recognition of tumor-specific antigens is required which is not always achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by systematically identifying and characterizing tumor-associated antigens before implementing vaccine or antibody therapy. Through bioinformatic analysis, expression profiling, and immunological screening, the specific antigens are pre-identified and validated as targets, ensuring that subsequent therapeutic interventions are directed against proven tumor-specific or tumor-associated antigens.
Data Source
AI summary
An isolated truncated desmoglein 4 (DSG4) polypeptide splice variant of the invention is characterized by an amino acid sequence that lacks a region encoded before exon 9 or beyond exon 10 of the DSG4 gene having the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 75. Also disclosed is a method of diagnosing a cancer, or monitoring the course thereof, in a patient. The method comprises detecting in a tissue sample of a patient the expression of a tumor-associated antigen comprising the extracellular domain of a DSG4 polypeptide encoded by a DSG4 gene having the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 75, or a truncated DSG4 polypeptide splice variant characterized by an amino acid sequence that lacks a region encoded before exon 9 or beyond exon 10 of the DSG4 gene.