Patent ID: 8951746
Filing Date: 2015-02-10
Classification: G01N,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of determining the presence of a cervical abnormality in cells of a cervical sample, said sample including cell debris that contains non-cellular materials including parts of cells independent of an intact cell, fibrous but noncellular tissues, dusts, contaminants, or pieces of any collector used to collect the cervical cell sample, comprising: a) multiparametrically measuring a fluorescent signal emitted from a cervical sample contacted with at least one fluorescently labelled probing agent that specifically binds at least one biomarker specifically indicative of the cervical cell abnormality using flow cytometry, wherein said parameters comprise at least one numerical value of the signal attributed to at least one fluorescent activity produced by the at least one fluorescently labelled probing agent bound to said at least one biomarker if said at least one biomarker is present in said sample and by autofluorescence of said sample, wherein the at least one fluorescently labeled probe is differently labeled from another fluorescently labeled probe bound to another distinct biomarker; and a reference numerical value of the signal attributed to at least one fluorescent activity produced by autofluorescence of said sample; b) calibrating the at least one numerical value by subtracting the reference numerical value from the at least one numerical value to produce at least one calibrated numerical value attributed to the fluorescent activity produced by said at least one fluorescently labelled probing agent bound to said at least one biomarker; and c) determining whether the cervical sample is positive or negative for the presence of the cervical cell abnormality by comparing the at least one calibrated numerical value to a predetermined threshold value, such that if the calibrated numerical value is at or above the threshold value the calibrated numerical value is indicative of the presence of the cervical cell abnormality or if the calibrated numerical value is below the threshold value the calibrated numerical value is indicative of the absence of the cervical cell abnormality.