[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 233 (Monday, December 4, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75723-75724]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-30714]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, DHHS.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The inventions listed below are owned by agencies of the U.S. 
Government and are available for licensing in the U.S. in accordance 
with 35 U.S.C. 207 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results 
of federally-funded research and development. Foreign patent 
applications are filed on selected inventions to extend market coverage 
for companies and may also be available for licensing.

ADDRESSES: Licensing information and copies of the U.S. patent 
applications listed below may be obtained by writing to the indicated 
licensing contact at the Office of Technology Transfer, National 
Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852-3804; telephone: 301/496-7057; fax: 301/402-0220. A 
signed Confidential Disclosure Agreement will be required to receive 
copies of the patent applications.

NAG-1: A Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Related Gene Which 
Has Anti-Tumorigenic Properties

Thomas E. Eling, Seung Joon Baek (NIEHS)
DHHS Reference No. E-170-00/0 filed 08 Sep 2000
Licensing Contact: Richard Rodriguez; 301/496-7056 ext. 287; e-mail: 
[email protected]
    Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used in 
the treatment of inflammatory disease, and their anti-inflammatory 
effects are believed to result from their ability to inhibit the 
formation of prostaglandins by prostaglandin H synthase (COX). Two 
forms of prostaglandin H have been identified, COX-1 and COX-2. The 
former seems to be constitutively expressed in a variety of tissues 
while the high expression of the latter has been reported in colorectal 
tumors. NSAIDs have been shown to be effective in reducing human 
colorectal cancers and possibly breast and lung cancers. While the 
exact mechanism(s) by which NSAIDs function has not been elucidated, 
they could potentially play a critical role in detecting, diagnosing 
and treating inflammatory diseases as well as cancer. The present 
invention relates to screening methods for the identification of 
agonistic and/or antagonistic agents for the activation of the promoter 
region of NAG-1. Additional claims are directed to 1) the

[[Page 75724]]

DNA sequence of NAG-1, 2) compositions containing the NAG-1 sequence 
and 3) methods for treating cancer patients using NAG-1.

Novel MHC Class II Restricted T Cell Epitopes from the Cancer 
Antigen, NY-ESO-1

    DHHS Reference No. E-090-00/0 filed 28 Jan 2000 and

MHC Class II Restricted CD4+ T Cell Epitopes From NY-ESO-1 
Presented by DP

DHHS Reference No. E-227-00/0 filed 29 Sep 2000
Wang et al. (NCI)
Licensing Contact: Elaine White: 301/496-7056 ext. 282; e-mail: 
[email protected]
    NY-ESO-1 is a known tumor antigen which is expressed on a broad 
range of tumor types, including melanoma, breast, bladder, ovarian, 
prostate, head and neck cancers, neuroblastoma, and small cell lung 
cancer. The above-referenced inventions embody the identification of a 
number of novel immunogenic peptide epitopes, and analogs thereof, 
which are derived from the NY-ESO-1 tumor antigen.
    DHHS Reference No. E-090-00/0 serves to identify novel MHC Class II 
restricted epitopes of NY-ESO-1 which are recognized by CD4+ T cells. 
DHHS Reference No. E-227-00/0 embodies the identification of two 
additional immunogenic peptide epitopes of NY-ESO-1. The latter two 
epitopes are presented by HLA-DP4, a prevalent MHC Class II allele 
present in 43-70% of Caucasians. The inventors also determined that the 
DP allele is highly associated with the NY-ESO-1 antibody production. 
In addition, one of these epitopes has dual HLA A2 and DP4 specificity, 
thereby has the potential to generate both CD4+ and CD8+ tumor specific 
T cells. These epitopes may be of great value as prophylactic and/or 
therapeutic cancer vaccines for use against a number of common cancers.

T-Cell Epitope of MAGE-12 and Related Nucleic Acids, Vectors, 
Cells, Compositions, and Methods of Inducing an Immune Response to 
Cancer

Monica Panelli, Francesco Marincola, Maria Bettinotti (NCI)
DHHS Reference No. E-056-00/0 filed 03 Mar 2000
Licensing Contact: Elaine White; 301/496-7056 ext. 282; e-mail: 
[email protected]
    The current invention embodies the identification of a T-cell 
epitope from the cancer-specific antigen MAGE-12. The MAGE family of 
genes encodes human tumor specific antigens (TSA), and various genes of 
this family are expressed by tumors of different histologies (melanoma, 
lung, colon, breast, laryngeal cancer, sarcomas, certain leukemias) and 
not by normal cells (except testis and placenta). The MAGE-12 peptide 
which is the subject of the current invention is a specific epitope 
within MAGE-12 (residues170-178) which is recognized by tumor 
infiltrating lymphocytes in the context of HLA-Cw0702 (a common HLA 
type in the Caucasian population). This T-cell epitope is advantageous 
in that it represents a novel tumor rejection antigen for use as a 
peptide vaccine against melanoma or other cancer types expressing MAGE-
12 and may therefore be of great value for use in cancer immunotherapy.

Secreted Frizzled Related Protein, sFRP, Fragments and Methods of 
Use Thereof

JS Rubin, A Uren (both of NCI), and F Reichsman, S Cumberledge
Serial No. 09/546,043 filed 10 April 00
Licensing Contact: Susan S. Rucker; 301/496-7056 ext 245; e-mail: 
[email protected]
    This application relates to signal transduction pathways and 
mechanisms. More particularly, the application describes various active 
fragments of the secreted Wnt binding protein sFRP-1 (secreted Frizzled 
Related Protein-1). The sFRP-1 fragments described are capable of 
binding to Wnt and therefore are able to modulate Wnt activity. The 
fragments may or may not contain the cysteine rich domain (CRD) of 
sFRP-1 suggesting that the CRD is not essential for Wnt binding. In 
addition, in contrast to earlier findings employing higher levels of 
sFRP-1, the ability of sFRP-1 to enhance Wnt signaling at low levels is 
also described suggesting biphasic regulation of Wnt signaling by sFRP-
1. The sFRP-1 fragments described herein may be useful in the further 
study of Wnt signaling as well as targets for the development of small 
molecules which can modulate Wnt signaling. PHS also owns additional 
intellectual property related to sFRP-1 which is described in US Patent 
Application Serial Number 09/087,031 and which has been published as WO 
98/54325 (12/03/1998).
    This work has appeared, in part, in Uren, A et al. JBC 275(6): 
4374-4382 (Feb 11, 2000).

    Dated: November 22, 2000.
Jack Spiegel,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 00-30714 Filed 12-1-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P