Unmet Need / Invention Novelty: Methylation arrays can be used to identify methylation biomarkers in cancer for development as methylation-specific PCR diagnostic assays. However, existing array data analysis is manually intensive. There is an unmet need to develop a new data analysis tools to identify methylation biomarkers in cancer.
Technical Details: Researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed the Methylation Outlier Detector Program, an automated, sensitive and specific biomarker discovery program. The program, developed through reverse engineering of the previously identified markers, using the HumanMethylation 450k, that have shown reproducible utility in different quantitative MSP assays, identifies specific and sensitive disease-associated methylation makers. Proof of concept studies have demonstrated the ability of the Methylation Outlier Detector Program to identify markers that can accurately distinguish between primary central nervous system diffuse B-cell lymphoma (PCNS-DLBCL) in the brain from other brain tumors such as glioblastoma multiforme and brain lower grade glioma with great accuracy.
Value Proposition:
- Automated, sensitive, and specific methylation biomarker discovery program
- Retains accuracy greater than or equal to those observed in methylation arrays when tested in second and third qMSP assay platforms
- Shows utility in identifying novel methylation markers for uses beyond distinguishing between different cancers
Looking for Partners to: Develop & commercialize as a novel biomarker discovery program
Stage of Development: Pre-Clinical
Data Availability: in vitro program validation studies
Inventors: Bradley Downs & Saraswati Sukumar
Intellectual Property: Copyright
Publication(s): Downs BM, Ding W, Cope LM, et al. Methylated markers accurately distinguish primary central nervous system lymphomas (PCNSL) from other CNS tumors. Clin Epigenetics. 2021;13(1):104. Published 2021 May 5. doi:10.1186/s13148-021-01091-9
