Specific Gene Polymorphisms in Cancer Disease Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment

The University of South Carolina is offering licensing opportunities for a direct nucleotide sequencing strategy that identifies polymorphisms of CD44, which may account for 80% of breast cancer cases.

This nucleotide sequencing strategy is used in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer.

Currently, two breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, account for approximately 15% of breast cancer cases due to inherited mutations or alterations. However, BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations are present in far less than 1% of the general population. The proportion of breast cancer in the general population explained by these mutations is very small. CD44 polymorphisms, on the other hand, may account for 80% of breast cancer cases. Therefore, a reliable technique for identification of these polymorphisms has great potential in clinical risk assessment, prediction, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for breast cancer patients.

This technology is a direct nucleotide sequencing strategy to identify which polymorphisms and their corresponding nucleotide sequence changes have the highest frequencies in breast cancer patients. Polymorphisms of the gene coding for the CD44 cell surface transmembrane glycoprotein have recently been shown to play an important role in breast cancer development, mainly as a result of their interaction with hyaluronan. Therefore, this novel sequencing strategy offers great promise in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.