press release: Clarient Receives Patents for Taxane Biomarker - TLE3 (gene)

Note: Transducin-like enhancer protein 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TLE3 gene

"Clarient, Inc., a premier technology and services resource for pathologists, oncologists and the pharmaceutical industry, today announced that the United Kingdom Patent Office has granted a U.K. patent on the Company's TLE3 biomarker, a marker which may be used to predict which cancer patients will respond favorably to taxane therapy. In addition, the Company has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a U.S. patent on the TLE3 biomarker. Other patents for the TLE3 biomarker are pending in the U.S., Canada, Japan, China, India and elsewhere in Europe.

The U.S. patent will cover uses of the TLE3 biomarker in breast cancer. The U.K. patent covers uses of TLE3 in breast, lung and ovarian cancers.
Taxanes are important cancer therapeutics which, in combination with other cancer therapies, can markedly improve a patient's response rate to therapy. However, taxanes also carry with them a significant incidence of severe side effects, making it important to identify which patients will most likely benefit from the therapy.

"Given the frequent prescription of taxanes in the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe and the world, we are very excited about the granting of these patents and the protection they provide our taxane sensitivity marker," said Clarient Vice Chairman and CEO Ron Andrews."