Assay methods for the determination of fkbpl expression level in the context of breast cancer

Abstract

Disclosed are methods that employ FKBPL as a marker for a subject's sensitivity to endocrine therapies in the treatment of cancers, and as a predictive marker of cancer progression and disease free survival in relation to hormone responsive cancers.

1 . A method of characterising a cancer tissue comprising
 determining in a test biological sample an expression level of at least one of FKBPL, a FKBPL variant, and a fragment FKBPL or an FKBPL variant;   comparing the determined level of FKBPL to a control standard or the expression of FKBPL, or a FKBPL variant or a fragment thereof in a control sample;   determining whether there is a differential expression of FKBPL in the sample as compared to the control standard or the expression of FKBPL in a control sample; and   characterising the cancer tissue, wherein characterising the cancer tissue is the determination as to whether an agent, which selectively modulates an oestrogen receptor present in a cancer tissue or lowers the circulating levels of oestrogen in a cancer tissue will decrease the progression of the cancer, or the likelihood of the subject including the cancer tissue to have cancer disease free survival.   
     
     
         2 . The method as claimed in any of  claim 1  wherein determining the expression level of FKBPL comprises measuring the level of an expression product of a FKBPL encoding gene. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the expression product is mRNA or a protein.