	US 11,939,637 B2
	Molecular biomarkers for cancer immunotherapy
Nir Hacohen, Brookline, MA (US); and Michael S. Rooney, Cambridge, MA (US)
Assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US); and The General Hospital Corporation, Boston, MA (US)
Filed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US); and The General Hospital Corporation, Boston, MA (US)
Filed on Feb. 19, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/179,956.
Application 17/179,956 is a division of application No. 15/537,839, granted, now 10,975,442, previously published as PCT/US2015/067143, filed on Dec. 21, 2015.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/124,473, filed on Dec. 19, 2014.
Prior Publication US 2021/0262039 A1, Aug. 26, 2021
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. C12Q 1/6886 (2018.01); G01N 33/574 (2006.01)

CPC C12Q 1/6886 (2013.01) [G01N 33/57407 (2013.01); C12Q 2600/106 (2013.01); C12Q 2600/156 (2013.01); C12Q 2600/158 (2013.01); G01N 2333/96436 (2013.01); G01N 2800/52 (2013.01)]

12 Claims

1. A method of treating cancer in a patient in need thereof, comprising

(a) selecting a patient suffering from cancer for immunotherapy by detecting cytolytic activity in tumor tissue from the patient, wherein detecting cytolytic activity comprises measuring cytolytic activity in tumor tissue from the patient by assaying the expression of granzyme A (GZMA) and perforin (PRF1), wherein the measuring comprises sequencing RNA expressed in the tumor tissue, and comprises (i) calculating the log-average of the transcript levels of granzyme A (GZMA) and perforin (PRF1), and (ii) assigning a cytolytic activity (CYT) score to the tumor based on the log average calculated in (i); and

(b) administering to the patient an agent that stimulates the patient's preexisting immune response if the cytolytic activity detected in the tumor is at least two-fold greater than the median value observed among patients diagnosed with the same histological cancer type.