Patent Document ID: 20070185656
Application ID: 10558928
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method of identifying a set of cellular constituents in a secondary tissue of a species that serves as a surrogate marker for an activity of a target gene expressed in a primary tissue of said species, the method comprising: (a) constructing a classifier using a cellular constituent level of each cellular constituent in a first plurality of cellular constituents measured in said secondary tissue in each member of a population of said species, wherein said population comprises a first subgroup and a second subgroup, wherein said classifier is based on a second plurality of cellular constituents that comprises all or a portion of said first plurality of cellular constituents, and respective abundance levels of each cellular constituent in said second plurality of cellular constituents varies between said first subgroup and said second subgroup; (b) classifying all or a portion of said population of said species into a plurality of subtypes using said classifier; and (c) identifying one or more cellular constituents that can discriminate members of said population between a first subtype in said plurality of subtypes and a second subtype in said plurality of subtypes, thereby identifying said one or more cellular constituents as said set of cellular constituents.