The US Patent No. 6,399,349 titled "Human Aminopeptidase P Gene," which is the subject of the License Agreement, covers the XPNPEP2 gene that codes for the clinically important protein, membrane-bound aminopeptidase P (AmP) discovered by Dr. James Ryan in the sixties. Dr. Ryan, the Chief Scientist of Ryogen, subsequently sequenced the XPNPEP2 gene that codes for the AmP. This gene is a significant marker for hypertension, angioedema, rejection of kidney transplants, certain tumors and other diseases. This valuable patent covers the cDNA and gDNA sequences encoding AmP, a method of producing recombinant AmP, diagnostics for detecting AmP abnormalities, and prevention and treatment of medical conditions, associated with the mutation of the AmP gene.

"We are happy to extend a license under the AmP Patent to OriGene Technologies," said Valeria Poltorak, Ryogen's Vice President. "We look forward to working with OriGene to make this important discovery available for research applications," she concluded.

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According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 192,000 U.S. women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Among women who carry a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2, an estimated 36 percent to 85 percent (360 to 850 women out of 1,000) will get breast cancer. In addition, women with breast cancer who carry a mutation also face an increased risk for developing a second breast cancer or ovarian cancer.

"While the primary thrust of this research was to identify predictors of carrying the high-risk mutations and to clarify mutation prevalence in understudied groups, the relatively small proportion of cases found to carry a mutation serves as a continued reminder that the majority of women with breast cancer, even those with a positive family history, do not carry mutations in these genes," said Malone, who is also a research professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

For the study, Malone, Ostrander and colleagues examined the frequency and predictors of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in 1,628 women with breast cancer and 674 women without the disease. The women ranged in age from 35 to 64 and were participants in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Women's Contraceptive and Reproductive Experiences (CARE) Study, which involved women from the Seattle, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Detroit and Philadelphia metropolitan areas.

The research team included investigators from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles; Wayne State University in Detroit; the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; Bay State Medical Center in Springfield, Mass.; the National Cancer Institute (NCI); the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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