Patent ID: 8658385

Claim:
A method for determining whether an individual has cancer, including the steps of: providing a sample in the form of a tissue biopsy, the biopsy including extracellular spaces that have extracellular body fluid contained therein; applying the sample to a slide or support, thereby enabling fixing of protein in extracellular fluid in the extra-cellular spaces to the slide or support; contacting the sample with an anti-P2X7 receptor antibody or fragment thereof that binds a P2X7 receptor comprising SEQ ID NO: 2 in conditions for forming an immune complex between a P2X7 receptor , monomer or fragment thereof, in or derived from the extracellular body fluid in the sample and the antibody or fragment thereof; assessing the sample for the presence or absence of an immune complex in an extracellular space of the sample; and determining that the individual has cancer wherein the assessment reveals the presence of immune complex in extracellular space.