Patent ID: 7833514

Claim:
A method of inhibiting the activity of MN/CAIX in a patient afflicted with a preneoplastic/neoplastic disease associated with MN/CA IX overexpression, comprising: (a) determining if MN/CA IX is overexpressed in a body fluid sample or preneoplastic/neoplastic tissue sample taken from said patient, at a level above that for a control sample; and (b) if said determining step (a) indicates that MN/CA IX is overexpressed in said sample, administering to said patient a composition comprising a specific inhibitor of activated MN/CA IX, wherein said inhibitor of activated MN/CA IX is an MN/CA IX-specific sulfonamide selected from the group consisting of aromatic sulfonamides and heterocyclic sulfonamides, and wherein said MN/CA IX-specific sulfonamide is a potent and specific inhibitor of MN/CA IX; wherein said MN/CA IX-specific sulfonamide is determined to be a potent inhibitor of MN/CA IX enzymatic activity in a screening assay comprising determining the inhibition constant K I of said sulfonamide, wherein if said inhibition constant K I is determined to be less than about 50 nanomolar, said MN/CA IX-specific sulfonamide is determined to be a potent inhibitor of MN/CA IX enzymatic activity; wherein said sulfonamide is determined to be a specific inhibitor of MN/CA IX if said sulfonamide is a more potent inhibitor of MN/CA IX enzymatic activity than of the enzymatic activity of at least one of the carbonic anhydrases in the group consisting of CA I, CA II and CA IV; and wherein said administration of said composition comprising a specific inhibitor of activated MN/CA IX inhibits the activity of MN/CAIX.