Patents by Inventor Robert A. G. Reenan

Robert A. G. Reenan 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).

  • Method for detection of alterations in the DNA mismatch repair pathway
    Patent number: 7396678
    Abstract: We have now discovered that eukaryotes, including mammals, have a DNA mismatch repair pathway analogous to the pathway that exists in bacteria. Defects or alterations in this mismatch repair pathway in a mammal, such as a human, will result in the accumulation of unstable repeated DNA sequences. Such a phenotype has a high correlation to disease state in a number of cancers, such as hereditary colon cancers. Accordingly, discovering a defect or alteration in the pathway can be diagnostic of a predisposition to cancer, and prognostic for a particular cancer. We have also discovered and sequenced one of the genes in this pathway in a number of mammals, including humans. This gene, referred to herein as MSH2, has many applications. It can be used in assays, to express gene product, for drug screens, and therapeutically. We also disclose herein a method for screening for other genes in this mismatch repair pathway.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2008
    Assignees: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, University of Vermont and State Agricultural College
    Inventors: Richard D. Kolodner, Robert A. G. Reenan, Richard Fishel
  • Method for detection of alterations in the DNA mismatch repair pathway
    Patent number: 7229755
    Abstract: We have now discovered that eukaryotes, including mammals, have a DNA mismatch repair pathway analogous to the pathway that exists in bacteria. Defects or alterations in this mismatch repair pathway in a mammal, such as a human, will result in the accumulation of unstable repeated DNA sequences. Such a phenotype has a high correlation to disease state in a number of cancers, such as hereditary colon cancers. Accordingly, discovering a defect or alteration in the pathway can be diagnostic of a predisposition to cancer, and prognostic for a particular cancer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 1994
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2007
    Assignees: Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Inc., University of Vermont and State Agricultural College
    Inventors: Richard D. Kolodner, Robert A. G. Reenan, Richard Fishel