Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 And Bone Morphogenetic Protein-4 In The Treatment And Diagnosis Of Cancer
First Claim
1. A method for the treatment of cancer comprising administering to a patient a therapeutically effective amount of a bone morphogenetic protein-4 activity inhibitor.
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Abstract
The present invention pertains to the use of BMP-2 and/or BMP-4 as 1) targets for cancer treatment therapies and 2) means to diagnose cancer. The therapeutic component of this invention involves administering to a patient a composition that inhibits bone morphogenetic protein-2 activity and/or bone morphogenetic protein-4 activity. Such inhibition may be accomplished by ligands or antibodies that bind to BMP-2 and/or BMP-4 or receptors for BMP-2 and BMP-4. It may also be achieved by preventing the processing of pro-BMP-2 and/or pro-BMP-4, or blocking transcription or replication of BMP-2 DNA and/or BMP-4 DNA or translation of BMP-2 mRNA and/or BMP-4 mRNA. The diagnostic component of the invention involves measuring the BMP-2 and/or BMP-4 level(s) in biological samples from both a patient and a non-cancerous subject and comparing those levels. Elevated levels of BMP-2 and/or BMP-4 in the patient compared to the subject indicate cancer.
103 Citations
64 Claims
- 1. A method for the treatment of cancer comprising administering to a patient a therapeutically effective amount of a bone morphogenetic protein-4 activity inhibitor.
- 20. A method for the treatment of cancer comprising administering to a patient a therapeutically effective amount of an expression vector having a nucleic acid sequence encoding a bone morphogenetic protein-4 activity inhibitor.
- 37. A method for the treatment of cancer comprising administering to a patient a therapeutically effective amount of an expression vector encoding an antisense oligonucleotide that binds to a bone morphogenetic protein-4 nucleic acid sequence.
- 46. An article of manufacture comprising packaging material and, contained within the packaging material, a compound that is a bone morphogenetic protein-4 activity inhibitor, wherein the packaging material indicates that the compound can be used for treating cancer in a patient.
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50. A method for the diagnosis of cancer in a patient, comprising
obtaining a biological sample from a patient and measuring the level of bone morphogenetic protein-4 in the biological sample, wherein an elevated level of bone morphogenetic protein-4 indicates cancer in the patient.
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59. A method for the diagnosis of cancer in a patient, which method comprises detecting the overexpression of bone morphogenetic protein-4 in the patient, the overexpression of bone morphogenetic protein-4 indicating the presence of cancer, the method comprising the steps of:
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(i) quantifying in vivo or in vitro the presence of bone morphogenetic protein-2 in a patient or a biological sample obtained from a patient;
(ii) comparing the result obtained in step (i) to that of a normal, non-cancerous patient; and
(iii) diagnosing for the presence of cancer based on an increased level of bone morphogenetic protein-4 in step (ii) relative to a normal, non-cancerous patient. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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Specification