NOVEL METHOD FOR DETECTING NON-HODGKIN'S LYMPHOMA

B细胞非霍奇金淋巴瘤（NHL）是美国第五大常见癌症，在全球范围内发病率迅速上升。大约60%的NHL的特征在于t（14;18）（q32;q21）染色体易位。这些肿瘤通过化疗和骨髓移植治疗;然而，许多患者复发并变得难以治疗。诊断和治疗后随访目前通过核型分析，Southern印迹或聚合酶链反应（PCR）进行。然而，特异性、灵敏度和低通量的问题强调了对精确、可靠、快速检测肿瘤细胞的方法的需要，特别是在治疗后设置中。荧光原位杂交（FISH）已成为检测癌细胞的一种有前途的方法。然而，传统的FISH是一种手工的劳动密集型操作，使得癌细胞的检测变得困难，癌细胞通常以低频率存在于患者样本中。拟议的商业应用：拟定的检测方法将为大量B细胞淋巴瘤患者提供快速、灵敏和准确的缓解和治疗监测方法。预计年收入潜力为1.83亿美元。

B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is the fifth most common cancer in this country with rapidly increasing incidence rates worldwide. Approximately 60% of NHL's are characterized by the t(14;18)(q32;q21) chromosomal translocation. These tumors are treated by chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation; however, many patients relapse and become refractory to treatment. Diagnosis and post-treatment follow-up are currently performed by either karyotype analysis, Southern blotting, or polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Problems with specificity, sensitivity and low throughput, however, underscore the need for a precise, reliable, rapid method to detect tumor cells, especially in the post-treatment set up. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has emerged as a promising method for detecting cancer cells. However, conventional FISH is a manual, labor intensive operation, making detection of cancer cells, which are typically present in low frequencies in patient samples, difficult. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: The proposed assay will provide a rapid, sensitive, and accurate method for monitoring remission and therapy for a significant number of B-Cell Lymphoma patients. The estimated annual revenue potential is $183M.