Patent ID: 6465180
Filing Date: 2002-10-15
Classification: C12Q

Abstract:
A method of screening for the presence of premalignant melanocytes in a sample from a patient, the method comprising:contacting a nucleic acid sample from morphologically normal cells less than 5 cm from the nearest atypical cell in a melanoma lesion from the patient with a probe which binds selectively to a target polynucleotide sequence on a chromosomal region which is amplified in melanoma cells and is a region selected from the group consisting of 11p15, 11q13, 22q12, 7p, 6p, 1q, 12q14, and 5p, wherein the probe is contacted with the sample under conditions in which the probe binds selectively with the target polynucleotide sequence to form a stable hybridization complex; detecting the formation of a hybridization complex, and determining the presence in the sample of an increase in copy number of the chromosomal region to which the probe selectively binds, thereby detecting the presence of the premalignant melanocytes in the sample.