Patent ID: 7991557

Claim:
A method for profiling gene expression in a human test subject, the method comprising: a) measuring a level of expression in a blood sample of said test subject of each gene of a set of genes consisting of heat shock protein 90 kDa alpha (cytosolic), class A member 1 (HSP90AA1); inhibitor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells, kinase complex-associated protein (IKBKAP); interleukin 13 receptor, alpha 1 (IL13RA1); laminin, gamma 1 (LAMC1); v-maf musculoaponeurotic fibrosarcoma oncogene homolog B (MAFB); and platelet factor 4 (PF4), thereby obtaining a sample dataset; and b) applying a classifier to said sample dataset to thereby classify said test subject into a class representing human subjects having mild osteoarthritis or a class representing human subjects not having osteoarthritis, wherein said classifier is able to discriminate between human subjects having mild osteoarthritis and human subjects not having osteoarthritis, and wherein said classifier is derived from data representing a level of expression of each gene of said set of genes in blood samples of human subjects having mild osteoarthritis and in blood samples of human subjects not having osteoarthritis, thereby profiling gene expression in a human test subject.