Rapid In Situ Hybridization of DNA Repeats

描述（由申请人提供）：细胞DNA的变化通常是有害的，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、倒位、易位或序列扩增。序列扩增尤其常见，在多达34%的乳腺癌中检测到。它通常与疾病晚期和预后不良有关。肿瘤内扩增基因的检测对于确定患者的预后和治疗过程至关重要。荧光原位杂交（FISH）是一种检测形态学完整细胞中核酸的强大工具，然而，检测灵敏度仍然是广泛使用的重大障碍。需要改进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。这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在开发一种敏感、快速、可重复和成本有效的FISH检测方法，用于检测癌症活检中的基因扩增。

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.