The successful development of new cancer therapeutics requires reliable preclinical data that are obtained from mouse models for cancer. Human tumor xenografts, which require transplantation of human tumor cells into an immune compromised mouse, represent the current standard mouse model for cancer. Since the immune system plays an important role in tumor growth, progression and metastasis, the current standard mouse model is not ideal for accurate prediction of therapeutic effectiveness in patients.

The Transforming Growth Factor Beta (TGF-ß) ligands (i.e., TGF-ß1, -ß2, -ß3) are key regulatory proteins in animal physiology. Disruption of normal TGF-ß signaling is associated with many diseases from cancer to fibrosis. In mice and humans, TGF-ß activates TGF-ß receptors (e.g., TGFBR1), which activates SMAD proteins that alter gene expression and contribute to tumorigenesis.  Reliable animal models are essential for the study of TGF-ß signaling.

The National Cancer Institute seeks interested parties to co-develop transgenic mice having immunocompetent rat growth hormone-firefly Luciferase-enhanced green fluorescent protein.

Studies have shown that Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases 2 (TIMP-2) suppresses tumor growth and tumor-associated angiogenesis. Currently, the main obstacle in using TIMP-2 as a biologic therapeutic has been the inability to produce sufficient quantities of the protein for testing and development. 

Cancer diagnosis depends on the assessment of patient biopsies to determine tumor type, grading, and stage of malignancy. Pathologists visually review specimens and count mitotic figures (MF) in a variety of cancer types to help gauge aggressiveness, guide treatment, and inform patient prognosis. Current technology for recording MF counts in surgical pathology is lacking in objectivity, and enumeration of MF by microscopy can be error prone. In particular, a lack of systematic means for recording contributes to recognized variability.

The invention listed below is owned by an agency of the U.S. Government and is available for licensing and/or co-development in the U.S. in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR part 404 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results of federally-funded research and development.

Cancer stem cells are a minority population of cells in tumors that initiate and sustain the cancer and which are resistant to therapy; they may cause tumors to recur after curative treatment.  Current therapies generally do not target cancer stem cells.

In medical diagnostic procedures for examining the cervix and the tissues of the vagina and vulva, long working-distance (-30 cm) lighted binocular microscopes (colposcope) that provide up to 25x optical magnification are used to create an illuminated magnified view. Speculum dilations can give rise to specular reflections from the tissue surface, causing physicians to overlook possible abnormalities – thus decreasing the quality of a colposcopy. 

Over 34 million Americans are living with diabetes. An estimated 6.5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes mellites (T2DM). Amyloidosis due to aggregation of amyloid-β is key pathogenic event in AD, whereas aggregation of mature islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP37) in human islet leads to β-cell dysfunction. A hallmark feature of T2DM is the accumulation of islet amyloid polypeptide fibrils in pancreatic islets. Such accumulations form amyloid plaques and cause apoptosis of -cells of islets.