Patent ID: 6423504
Filing Date: 2002-07-23
Classification: C07K,C12Q,G01N

Abstract:
A method for detecting human colorectal cancer, wherein the method comprises the steps of:bringing a specimen from a pathologic tissue of a patient into contact with an isolated polynucleotide having at least 97% homology with DNA encoding a bradeion protein which comprises an amino acid sequence 1-119 of SEQ ID NO:4 and which has the following properties: (i) it is a transmembranous protein; (ii) it has a transmembrane portion, an extracellular portion, and a cytoplasmic portion in its molecule as determined by a hydrophobicity analysis according to Kyte-Doolittle method; (iii) it is expressed in the human adult normal brain and heart, the expression level thereof in the heart being about 10% or lower of that in the brain, while it is not expressed in other adult normal organs of spleen, lung, liver, skeletal muscle, kidney and pancreas, and in fetal brain, lung, heart and kidney; (iv) it induces programmed cell death when over-expressed in a cultured human brain-derived undifferentiated nerve cell line; (v) it induces termination of cell division and aging when overexpressed in a cultured human brain-derived differentiated nerve cell; (vi) it is located in cytoplasm in the course of the induced cell death, and forms an intracellular aggregate when overexpressed; and (vii) it is expressed in a human colorectal cancer cell line or in a human malignant melanoma cell line, but not in leukemia, lymphoma and lung carcinoma; or a DNA fragment with at least 15 nucleotides encoding a fragment of said bradeion protein, or complements thereof;detecting the presence of a nucleic acid encoding said bradeion protein in said specimen; and determining whether there exists said cancer in said patient by using the presence of said nucleic acid as an indication.