Biomarker to Predict Resistance to Doxorubicin Cancer Therapy

Background:
The Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, is seeking statements of capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize a manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) genotyping assay to assess a patient's response to doxorubicin combination therapy.

Technology:
Major drawbacks of current cancer therapies are the individual differences in both the response and the cytotoxic side-effects that are associated with them. This research identified a MnSOD polymorphism as a novel biomarker for the prognosis of doxorubicin therapeutic response in breast cancer patients. This technology can be developed into an assay to screen patients for their response to doxorubicin treatment. Further, as the MnSOD variant allele is common in the population (about 20% of patients have the homozygous variant genotype), it is a common risk factor and biomarker that predicts poor response to doxorubicin therapy in breast cancer, and likely in other types of cancer.

This technology is also available for licensing under an exclusive or non-exclusive patent license. Please contact Jennifer Wong, Ph.D. of the NIH Office of Technology Transfer at 301-451-7337 or wongje@mail.nih.gov.

Potential Application Areas:

• A novel genetic marker to predict breast cancer patient survival with doxorubicin treatment.
• A screening test that allows for individualized treatment according to patient MnSOD genotype.

Further R&D Required:

• Future studies include determining the mechanism in which the polymorphism modulates doxorubicin toxicity.
• Validation in independent studies

Current State of Development:
MnSOD genotyping assay is available. The assay is accurate and reliable.

IP Status:
U.S. Provisional Application filed May, 2006

Contact Information:
John D. Hewes, Ph.D., NCI Technology Transfer Center
Phone: 301-435-3121
E-mail: Hewesj@mail.nih.gov

Reference:  #453 BW

Updated 10/24/2007