Patents by Inventor Bernard W. Futscher

Bernard W. Futscher has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240209452
    Abstract: Cancer specific DNA methylation regions have been studied to find cancer specific DNA methylation markers for most common cancers. Differentially methylated regions for individual cancer types were identified and those were further filtered against data from normal tissues to obtain marker regions with cancer specific methylation, resulting in total of 1,250 hypermethylated and 584 hypomethylated marker CpGs. Optimal sets of six markers for each TCGA cancer type that could identify most tumors with high specificity and sensitivity (AUC 0.969-1.00) were chosen from hypermethylated markers and a universal 12 marker set that can detect tumors of all 33 TCGA cancer types (AUC>0.84) was also chosen from hypermethylated markers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2023
    Publication date: June 27, 2024
    Inventors: Lukas Vrba, Bernard W. Futscher
  • Patent number: 11851711
    Abstract: Cancer specific DNA methylation regions have been studied to find cancer specific DNA methylation markers for most common cancers. Differentially methylated regions for individual cancer types were identified and those were further filtered against data from normal tissues to obtain marker regions with cancer specific methylation, resulting in total of 1,250 hypermethylated and 584 hypomethylated marker CpGs. Optimal sets of six markers for each TCGA cancer type that could identify most tumors with high specificity and sensitivity (AUC 0.969-1.00) were chosen from hypermethylated markers and a universal 12 marker set that can detect tumors of all 33 TCGA cancer types (AUC>0.84) was also chosen from hypermethylated markers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
    Inventors: Lukas Vrba, Bernard W. Futscher
  • Publication number: 20220251663
    Abstract: Cancer is the second most common cause of death worldwide, identification of cancer-specific DNA methylation events released by tumors into blood can be used for cost-effective, minimally invasive diagnostics and monitoring of cancer. The present invention clinically tested a set of ten DNA methylation specific qPCR amplicons, designed to detect most common human carcinoma types, in cell free DNA extracted from plasma fraction of blood samples from healthy controls and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases. The DNA methylation biomarkers distinguish lung cancer cases from controls with high sensitivity and specificity (AUC=0.956), and furthermore, the signal from the markers depends on the tumor size and decreases after surgical resection of lung tumors. These observations indicate clinical value of these DNA methylation biomarkers for minimally invasive diagnostics and monitoring of NSCLC. It is predicted that these DNA methylation biomarkers will detect additional carcinoma types as well.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 5, 2020
    Publication date: August 11, 2022
    Inventors: Bernard W. Futscher, Lukas Vrba, Mark A. Nelson
  • Patent number: 10870851
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure include RNAs that confer a mortal phenotype and nucleic acids encoding same. Liposomes, recombinant cells, and pharmaceutical compositions that include the RNAs or nucleic acids encoding same are also provided. Further provided are methods involving quantifying MORT RNAs and/or determining the methylation status of the MORT promoter, as well as methods that employ the RNAs or nucleic acids encoding same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignees: The Regents of the University of California, The Arizona Board of Regents on Behalf of the University of Arizona
    Inventors: Martha R. Stampfer, James C. Garbe, Lukas Vrba, Bernard W. Futscher
  • Publication number: 20200255904
    Abstract: Cancer specific DNA methylation regions have been studied to find cancer specific DNA methylation markers for most common cancers. Differentially methylated regions for individual cancer types were identified and those were further filtered against data from normal tissues to obtain marker regions with cancer specific methylation, resulting in total of 1,250 hypermethylated and 584 hypomethylated marker CpGs. Optimal sets of six markers for each TCGA cancer type that could identify most tumors with high specificity and sensitivity (AUC 0.969-1.00) were chosen from hypermethylated markers and a universal 12 marker set that can detect tumors of all 33 TCGA cancer types (AUC >0.84) was also chosen from hypermethylated markers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2018
    Publication date: August 13, 2020
    Inventors: Lukas Vrba, Bernard W. Futscher
  • Publication number: 20180298382
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure include RNAs that confer a mortal phenotype and nucleic acids encoding same. Liposomes, recombinant cells, and pharmaceutical compositions that include the RNAs or nucleic acids encoding same are also provided. Further provided are methods involving quantifying MORT RNAs and/or determining the methylation status of the MORT promoter, as well as methods that employ the RNAs or nucleic acids encoding same.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2016
    Publication date: October 18, 2018
    Inventors: Martha R. Stampfer, James C. Garbe, Lukas Vrba, Bernard W. Futscher
  • Publication number: 20170130232
    Abstract: Methods for inducing non-clonal immortalization of normal epithelial cells by directly targeting the two main senescence barriers encountered by cultured epithelial cells. In finite lifespan pre-stasis human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC), the stress-associated stasis barrier was bypassed, and in post-stasis HMEC, the replicative senescence barrier, a consequence of critically shortened telomeres, was bypassed. Early passage non-clonal immortalized lines exhibited normal karyotypes. Methods of efficient HMEC immortalization, in the absence of “passenger” genomic errors, should facilitate examination of telomerase regulation and immortalization during human carcinoma progression, methods for screening for toxic and environmental effect on progression, and the development of therapeutics targeting the process of immortalization.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 2, 2016
    Publication date: May 11, 2017
    Applicants: The Regents of the University of California, The Arizona Board of Regents on Behalf of the University of Arizona
    Inventors: Martha R. Stampfer, James C. Garbe, Lukas Vrba, Bernard W. Futscher
  • Publication number: 20150225696
    Abstract: Methods for inducing non-clonal immortalization of normal epithelial cells by directly targeting the two main senescence barriers encountered by cultured epithelial cells. In human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC), the stress-associated stasis barrier was bypassed and the replicative senescence barrier, a consequence of critically shortened telomeres, was bypassed in post-stasis HMEC. Early passage non-clonal immortalized lines exhibited normal karyotypes. Methods of efficient HMEC immortalization, in the absence of “passenger” genomic errors, should facilitate examination of telomerase regulation, immortalization during human carcinoma progression, and methods for screening for toxic and environmental effect on progression.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 2, 2014
    Publication date: August 13, 2015
    Applicants: The Regents of the University of California, THE ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
    Inventors: Martha R. Stampfer, James C. Garbe, Lukas Vrba, Bernard W. Futscher