Claims for Patent: 5,853,988

Summary for Patent: 5,853,988

Title:	Diagnosis of retinoblastoma
Abstract:	This invention relates to nucleic acid, or fragments thereof, encoding the retinoblastoma polypeptide, the retinoblastoma polypeptide itself, methods of detecting a defective retinoblastoma gene in human patients, and methods of treating these patients.
Inventor(s):	Dryja; Thaddeus P. (Milton, MA), Friend; Stephen (Somerville, MA), Yandell; David W. (Waltham, MA)
Assignee:	Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (Boston, MA) Whitehead Institute (Cambridge, MA)
Application Number:	07/958,290
Patent Claims:	1. Purified nucleic acid comprising a human retinoblastoma gene, or a fragment thereof, wherein said fragment is selected from the group consisting of: (a) a fragment comprising at least 20 base pairs in length, and (b) a nucleic acid probe comprising 15 or more bases that hybridizes specifically to said retinoblastoma gene under hybridizing conditions. 2. A vector comprising the nucleic acid of claim 1. 3. A cell transformed with the nucleic acid of claim 1. 4. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid is at least 1.65 kb in size. 5. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid is at least 3.8 kb in size. 6. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid is at least 4.7 kb in size, said nucleic acid being characterized by the restriction map shown in FIG. 1. 7. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid is a cDNA, said cDNA being characterized by the restriction map shown in FIG. 1. 8. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of: (a) a cDNA comprising the sequence of FIG. 5, (b) a nucleic acid comprising a sequence shown in FIG. 6, and (c) a nucleic acid that hybridizes specifically under hybridizing conditions to a cDNA comprising the sequence of FIG. 5. 9. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid is genomic DNA. 10. The nucleic acid of claim 9, wherein said genomic DNA comprises an exon of the retinoblastoma gene. 11. The nucleic acid of claim 9, wherein said genomic DNA comprises a sequence of an intron of the retinoblastoma gene. 12. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said fragment is less than 1.5 kb in size. 13. The nucleic acid of claim 12, wherein said fragment contains between 15 bp and 53 bp. 14. The nucleic acid of claim 12, wherein said fragment contains between 15 bp and 20 bp. 15. The nucleic acid of claim 12, wherein said fragment comprises an exon of the retinoblastoma gene. 16. The nucleic acid of claim 12, wherein said fragment comprises a sequence of an intron of the retinoblastoma gene. 17. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid comprises a DNA Sequence Polymorphism (DSP). 18. The nucleic acid of claim 17, wherein said DSP is selected from the group consisting of RB1.2, RB1.3, RB1.20, RB1.26 19. The purified nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid probe is at least 20 bases in length. 20. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 1. 21. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 2. 22. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 3. 23. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 4. 24. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 5. 25. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 6. 26. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 7. 27. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 8. 28. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 9. 29. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 10. 30. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 11. 31. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 12. 32. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 13. 33. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 14. 34. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 15. 35. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 16. 36. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 17. 37. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 18. 38. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 19. 39. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 20. 40. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 21. 41. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 22. 42. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 23. 43. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 24. 44. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 25. 45. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises axon 26. 46. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said retinoblastoma fragment comprises exon 27. 47. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said fragment is a unique subregion of said retinoblastoma gene. 48. The nucleic acid of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid is ribonucleic acid (RNA). 49. A method of detecting a deletion or a point mutation in the retinoblastoma gene of a human patient, said method comprising the steps of: hybridizing a nucleic acid sample from said patient with a probe specific for the retinoblastoma gene, wherein said probe is a nucleic acid of any one of claims 1, 4-7, 9, 12-14, 17-18, and 19-46, and 47-48, and determining the ability of said probe to hybridize to said nucleic acid sample, wherein lack of hybridization between said nucleic acid sample and said probe indicates the presence of a deletion or a point mutation in said gene. 50. A method of detecting a deletion or a point mutation in the retinoblastoma gene of a human patient, said method comprising the steps of: generating nucleic acid fragments from a sample of said patient, separating said fragments according to a determined physical property of said fragments, hybridizing a probe specific for the retinoblastoma gene to said fragments, said probe being a nucleic acid of any one of claims 1, 4-7, 9, 12-14, 17-18, 19-46, and 47-48, and detecting the presence or absence of a hybrid formed between said probe and at least one of said fragments, wherein the absence of a hybrid, or an altered size of a hybrid relative to a control, indicates a deletion or mutation in the retinoblastoma gene of said patient. 51. A method of detecting a deletion or mutation in the retinoblastoma gene of a human patient, said method comprising the steps of: determining the nucleotide sequence of a retinoblastoma allele, or subregion thereof, from said patient, and comparing said nucleotide sequence with the nucleotide sequence of a nucleic acid of any one of claims 1, 4-7, 9, 12-14, 17-18, 19-46, and 47-48. 52. A method of detecting a deletion or mutation in the retinoblastoma gene of a human patient, said method comprising detecting a mismatch between a nucleic acid sample from said patient and a probe, said probe being a nucleic acid of any one of claims 1, 4-7, 9, 12-14, 17-18, 19-46, and 47-48, wherein a mismatch indicates a deletion or mutation in the retinoblastoma gene of said patient. 53. A method of using a nucleic acid of any one of claims 1, 22-36, 38-65, and 67-68 to express a polypeptide encoded by said nucleic acid. 54. The method of claim 49 or 50, wherein the probe specific for the retinoblastoma protein gene is the cloned DNA in p4.7R, or a fragment thereof. 55. The method of claim 50, wherein the physical property is molecular weight.

Details for Patent 5,853,988

Applicant	Tradename	Biologic Ingredient	Dosage Form	BLA	Approval Date	Patent No.	Expiredate
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	For Injection	103132	06/04/1986		2015-12-29
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	For Injection	103132			2015-12-29
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	Injection	103132			2015-12-29