Rapid In Situ Hybridization of DNA Repeats

描述(申请人提供)：细胞DNA的改变通常是有害的，会导致恶性肿瘤的发展。细胞DNA的改变可以累积为点突变、缺失、倒置、易位或序列放大。序列扩增尤其常见，已在多达34%的乳腺癌中检测到。它通常与晚期疾病和预后不良有关。肿瘤内扩增基因的检测对确定患者的前景和治疗过程至关重要。荧光原位杂交(FISH)是检测形态完整的细胞中核酸的有力工具，然而，检测的敏感性仍然是广泛使用的一个重要障碍。需要改进的诊断方法来了解癌症的发病机制，并确定适当的治疗干预措施。这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在开发一种灵敏、快速、可重复性和成本效益高的FISH检测方法，用于检测癌症活检组织中的基因扩增。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Changes to cellular DNA are often deleterious, leading to the development of malignant tumors. Alterations in cellular DNA can accumulate as point mutations, deletions, inversions, translocations or sequence amplification. Sequence amplification is particularly common and has been detected in as much as 34% of breast cancers. It is often associated with advanced disease and poor prognosis. Detection of amplified genes within tumors is vital to determining patient outlook and treatment course. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a powerful tool for detecting nucleic acids in morphologically intact cells, however, assay sensitivity continues to be a significant obstacle to widespread usage. Improved diagnostic methods are needed to understand cancer pathogenesis and determine proper therapeutic intervention. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to develop a sensitive, rapid, reproducible and cost effective FISH assay for detecting gene amplification in cancer biopsies.