Genetic variant for asthma diagnosis - Isis Project No 146

Isis Innovation, the technology transfer arm of the University of Oxford, releases a new method for non-atopic asthma diagnosis and prognosis.

Marketing Opportunity

• Anti-TNF drugs used in the treatment of non-atopic asthma are expensive and not always efficacious. This invention provides a method whereby asthma sufferers could be stratified into responders and non-responders to anti-TNF treatment.
• A method allowing individuals and clinicians to test for an individual’s predisposition for asthma as well as a prognosis for the likely severity of the condition.

The Oxford Invention

The present invention is directed to a method for diagnosing an individual as being asthmatic, or having a predisposition to asthma, and a kit therefore, which method comprises demonstrating in the individual the presence or absence of an unusual variant form of a genetic sequence in the MHC region of chromosome 6p, said unusual variant being associated with an increase secretion of TNF.

Patent Status

The invention has a granted US patent 6,387,615.

Request Further Information: Project Number 146 Genetic Variant for Asthma Diagnosis