This invention provides novel carbonic anhydrase (CAIX) nucleic acid and peptide sequences, as well as related methods and compositions, including anti-cancer immunogenic agent(s) (e.g. vaccines and chimeric molecules) that elicit an immune response specifically directed against cancer cells expressing a CAIX antigenic marker. The novel CAIX variant and related compositions are useful in a wide variety of treatment modalities including, but not limited to protein vaccination, DNA vaccination, and adoptive immunotherapy.

The present invention relates to a method for discrimination of p16.sup.INK4a overexpressing metaplasias from neoplastic or preneoplastic p16.sup.INK4a overexpressing lesions by determination of the level of high risk HPV encoded gene-products such as e.g. HPV E2 and/or HPV E7 molecules in biological samples in the course of cytological testing procedures. The method thus enables for reduction of false positive results in the p16.sup.INK4a based detection of anogenital lesions in cytological testing procedures.

Some embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and compositions for assessing the absence, presence, progression, or stage of cancer. In particular, methods and compositions for detecting endometrial cancer or ovarian cancer are provided.

In one aspect, methods of treating a subject having a cancer that expresses a cytokine receptor are provided. In some embodiments, the method comprises administering to the subject a biologic agent in an amount sufficient to induce loss of cytokine receptor signaling through increased expression of a Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling genes and/or loss of one or more cytokine receptor components from the cancer cell surface. In some embodiments, the biologic agent is a cytokine or cytokine mimetic.

Provided are a composition and a kit for diagnosing bladder cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, and renal cancer, and a method for diagnosing cancer or a method for detecting a biomarker for diagnosing cancer, using the same. The present invention may be used as a composition or a kit for point-of-care testing-type diagnosis, and may diagnose bladder cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, and renal cancer with high accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity.

Materials and methods are provided herein for determining if a subject has, or is at risk of developing, a clinical condition (e.g., cervical cancer). For example, this document provides a cost-effective self-test for determining whether a biological fluid from a subject contains a high-risk HPV strain, and a method for use of the self-test.

The disclosure features systems and methods for measuring and diagnosing target constituents bound to labeling particles in a sample. The systems include a radiation source, a sample holder, a detector configured to obtain one or more diffraction patterns of the sample each including information corresponding to optical properties of sample constituents, and an electronic processor configured to, for each of the one or more diffraction patterns: (a) analyze the diffraction pattern to obtain amplitude information and phase information corresponding to the sample constituents; (b) identify one or more particle-bound target sample constituents based on at least one of the amplitude information and the phase information; and (c) determine an amount of at least one of the particle-bound target sample constituents in the sample based on at least one of the amplitude information and the phase information.

The present invention relates to a method for discrimination of p16.sup.INK4a overexpressing metaplasias from neoplastic or preneoplastic p16.sup.INK4a overexpressing lesions by determination of the level of high risk HPV encoded gene-products such as e.g. HPV E2 and/or HPV E7 molecules in biological samples in the course of cytological testing procedures. The method thus enables for reduction of false positive results in the p16.sup.INK4a based detection of anogenital lesions in cytological testing procedures.

The present invention relates to a method for the normalization of an immunological test characterized in that the presence of a comparable amount of cells is determined by a sandwich ELISA test wherein the capture antibody is at least one antibody which binds to at least one keratin selected from the group consisting of keratin 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13 and 18 and the detection antibody is at least one antibody which binds to said keratin.

The invention generally relates to antibodies that bind to human folate receptor and diagnostic assays for folate receptor 1-based therapies. Methods of using the antibodies to monitor therapy are further provided.