Patent ID: 8563249

Claim:
A method to aid in diagnosing cancer in a mammalian subject comprising: obtaining a population of cells from a mucosal epithelial tissue specimen taken from said subject, and (i) determining at least one of a first set of conditions selected from the following: (a) absence of a poly-Ig receptor gene from said cells; or (b) absence of heterozygosity for said poly-Ig receptor gene in said cells; (ii) determining at least one of a second set of conditions selected from the following: (c) absence of heterozygosity for a Fcγ receptor gene in said cells; (d) absence of a Fcγ receptor gene from said cells; (e) absence or diminution of a Fcγ receptor in said cells; (f) absence of heterozygosity for a TGF-β receptor gene in said cells; (g) absence of a TGF-β receptor gene from said cells; (h) absence or diminution of a TGF-β receptor in said cells; or (i) absence or presence of an estrogen receptor in said cells wherein said absence of at least one of said first set of conditions or said absence of at least one of said second set of conditions is measured by comparison to similar determinations in non-neoplastic cells from said subject and/or the subject's previous test results, or by comparison to a predetermined standard value, and wherein an absence of one or more of said first set of conditions and an absence of one or more of said second set of conditions provides a diagnosis of cancer in said subject.