1. A method of monitoring cancer progression, or the efficacy of cancer treatment or therapy, in a cancer patient, comprising:
(a) measuring the levels of one or more of the following plasminogen activator (uPA) system components in a body fluid sample from the cancer patient prior to, or at the start of, cancer treatment or therapy: (i) uPA in a body fluid sample, (ii) PAI-1 in a plasma sample; and (iii) uPA:PAI-1 complex in a plasma sample;
(b) determining if the sample levels of one or more of the uPA, PAI-1, or uPA:PAI-1 complex in the cancer patient is increased compared to normal levels of each of the respective plasminogen activator system components in normal controls to obtain a first value for the PA system analytes in the patient;
(c) measuring the levels of one or more of (i) uPA in a body fluid sample of the cancer patient; (ii) PAI-1 in a plasma sample of the cancer patient; or (iii) the uPA:PAI-1 complex in a plasma sample of the cancer patient during andor following a course of cancer treatment or therapy;
(d) determining if the patient’s sample levels of one or more of the uPA, system components is increased compared to the normal levels of each of the respective plasminogen activator system components in normal controls during andor following the course of cancer treatment or therapy; and
(e) establishing that the cancer treatment or therapy is or is not effective; wherein an increase or elevation in the cancer patient’s sample levels of one or more of the uPA, PAI-1 or uPA:PAI-1 complex during or following the cancer treatment or therapy compared with the levels of one or more of the uPA, PAI-1 or uPA:PAI-1 complex in normal controls and relative to the first value of (a) indicates that the cancer treatment or therapy is not effective or that the patient is not responding to the treatment or therapy; and further wherein a decrease in the sample levels of one or more of the uPA, PAI-1 or uPA:PAI-1 complex during or following the cancer treatment or therapy compared with the levels of one or more of the uPA, PAI-1 or uPA:PAI-1 complex in normal controls and compared to the first value of (a) indicates effective treatment or therapy, or a favorable response by the cancer patient.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cancer is a solid tumor cancer.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the solid tumor cancer is selected from skin, lung, trachea, breast (mammary), prostate, cervix, ovary, vulva, vagina, endometrium, bladder; pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, esophagus, head and neck, brain, kidney, liver, stomach, rectum, or colon cancer.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cancer is breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, or prostate cancer.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cancer patient’s sample uPA level is considered elevated or increased if it is above a normal uPA value of 1924 pgml; wherein the cancer patient’s sample PAI-1 level is considered elevated or increased if it is above a normal PAI-1 value of 63 ngml; and wherein the cancer patient’s sample uPA:PAI-1 complex level is considered elevated or increased if it is above a normal uPA:PAI-1 complex value of 293 pgml.
6. A method of monitoring cancer treatment, or efficacy thereof, in a cancer patient undergoing such treatment, comprising:
(a) measuring levels of a complex of plasminogen activator (uPA) and uPA inhibitor PAI-1 (uPA:PAI-1 complex) in a plasma sample of the cancer patient; and
(b) determining if the plasma levels of the uPA:PAI-1 complex increase during the cancer treatment compared to the plasma levels of the uPA:PAI-1 complex in normal controls; wherein an increase in the plasma levels of the uPA:PAI-1 complex in the cancer patient compared to the plasma levels of the complex in normal controls during the monitoring period indicates one or more of the following: (i) cancer progression, (ii) a more severe stage of the cancer, or (iii) lack of response by the patient to the cancer treatment.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the cancer patients have a solid tumor cancer.
8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the cancer patients have a cancer selected from skin, lung, trachea, breast (mammary), prostate, cervix, ovary, vulva, vagina, endometrium, bladder; pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, esophagus, head and neck, brain, kidney, liver, stomach, rectum, or colon cancer.
9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the normal plasma uPA:PAI-1 complex level is greater than about 293 pgml.
10. The method according to claim 6, wherein the plasma uPA:PAI-1 complex levels are determined by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
11. A method of monitoring cancer treatment, or efficacy thereof, in a cancer patient undergoing such treatment, comprising:
(a) measuring levels of a complex of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in a plasma sample of the cancer patient; and
(b) determining if the plasma levels of PAI-1 increase during the cancer treatment compared to the plasma levels of PAI-1 in normal controls; wherein an increase in the plasma levels of PAI-1 in the cancer patient compared with the plasma levels of PAI-1 in normal controls during the monitoring period indicates one or more of the following: (i) cancer progression, (ii) a more severe stage of the cancer, or (iii) lack of response by the patient to the cancer treatment.
12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the cancer patients have a solid tumor cancer.
13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the cancer patients have a cancer selected from skin, lung, trachea, breast (mammary), prostate, cervix, ovary, vulva, vagina, endometrium, bladder; pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, esophagus, head and neck, brain, kidney, liver, stomach, rectum, or colon cancer.
14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the normal plasma PAI-1 cutoff level is greater than about 63 ngml.
15. The method according to claim 11, wherein the plasma PAI-1 levels are determined by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
16. A method of monitoring patient response to cancer therapy or treatment for a patient having metastatic cancer, comprising:
(a) measuring levels of plasminogen activator (uPA) in a body fluid sample of the cancer patient prior to cancer therapy or treatment;
(b) determining if the uPA levels of the patient are increased compared to the uPA levels in normal controls; the normal control range of uPA levels being 459-1924 pgml; and
(c) establishing that the metastatic cancer patient having increased uPA levels compared with the uPA levels of normal controls has one or more of (i) ongoing or progressing metastasis; (ii) a likelihood of a decreased or poor response to cancer therapy or treatment; and (iii) a shorter survival outcome.
17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the body fluid sample is serum or plasma.
18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the body fluid sample is serum.
19. The method according to claim 16, wherein the metastatic cancer is a metastatic solid tumor cancer.
20. The method according to claim 16, wherein the metastatic cancer is selected from the group consisting of metastatic cancer of the skin, lung, trachea, breast (mammary), prostate, cervix, ovary, vulva, vagina, endometrium, bladder; pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, esophagus, head and neck, brain, kidney, liver, stomach, rectum, or colon cancer.
21. The method according to claim 16, wherein the metastatic cancer is metastatic breast cancer or metastatic prostate cancer.
22. The method according to claim 16, wherein the uPA level is determined using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
23. The method according to claim 16, wherein the uPA levels in the patient’s sample are determined in conjunction with the determination of the levels of one or more oncoprotein markers, and further wherein the levels of the one or more markers are correlated with patient outcome.
24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the one or more oncoprotein markers is selected from the group consisting of HER-2neu, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), complexed PSA (cPSA), p53 autoantibody, the breast cancer marker CA15-3 and the colon cancer marker CA19-9.
25. A method of determining if a cancer patient is a candidate for anti-plasminogen activation system cancer therapy, comprising:
(a) measuring the levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) or a complex of plasminogen activator and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (uPA:PAI-1 complex) in a plasma sample of the cancer patient;
(b) determining if the levels of PAI-1 or the uPA:PAI-1 complex in the plasma of the cancer patient are elevated compared to the normal range levels of PAI-1 or the uPA:PAI-1 complex in the plasma of normal controls; and
(c) selecting the patient having elevated plasma PAI-1 or uPA-PAI-1 complex levels as a candidate for anti-plasminogen activation system therapy, based on the determination of elevated levels of PAI-1 or uPA:PAI-1 in the plasma of the cancer patient compared to the normal range plasma levels of PAI-1 or uPA:PAI-1 complex in the normal controls.
26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the anti-plasminogen activator system therapy is selected from serine protease inhibitors or uPA receptor antagonists.
27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the serine protease inhibitor is an amidino phenylalanine-type serine protease inhibitor.
28. The method according to any one of claims 1, 6, 11, 16, or 25, wherein the anti-cancer treatment or therapy is administered in combination with at least one biologically active agent, and further wherein the biologically active agent is selected from one or more of i) drugs; ii) hormones; or iii) synthetic compounds.
29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the drug is epirubicin.
30. The method according to claim 25, wherein the plasma PAI-1 levels are determined by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
31. The method according to claim 25, wherein the normal plasma PAI-1 cutoff level is greater than about 63 ngml, and the normal plasma uPA:PAI-1 complex cutoff level is greater than 293 pgml.
32. The method according to claim 25, wherein the cancer patient has a solid tumor cancer.
33. The method according to claim 25, wherein the cancer patient has a cancer selected from breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, or prostate cancer.
34. The method according to claim 25, wherein the plasma uPA:PAI-1 complex levels are determined by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
35. The method according to claim 25, further wherein plasma levels of plasminogen activator (uPA) in cancer patients are determined, and wherein an elevated level of uPA in plasma of cancer patients compared to uPA normal range levels in normal plasma controls indicates further likelihood of benefit of the cancer patient by therapies targeting components of the plasminogen activation system.
36. The method according to claim 35, wherein the normal range uPA level is 459-1924 pgml.
37. A method of monitoring cancer progression, or the efficacy of cancer treatment or therapy, in a cancer patient, comprising:
(a) measuring the levels of one or more of the following plasminogen activator (PA) system analytes in a body fluid sample from the cancer patient: (i) uPA analyte in a body fluid sample, (ii) PAI-1 analyte in a plasma sample; and (iii) uPA:PAI-1 complex analyte in a plasma sample; and
(b) determining if the sample levels of one or more of the uPA, PAI-1, or uPA:PAI-1 complex analytes in the cancer patient is increased or elevated during the cancer treatment or therapy compared to normal levels of each of the respective plasminogen activator system analytes in normal controls; wherein an increase or elevation in the sample levels of one or more of the uPA, PAI-1, or uPA:PAI-1 complex analytes in the cancer patient compared to the respective normal levels of the analytes during the monitoring period indicates one or more of the following: (i) cancer progression, (ii) a more severe stage of the cancer, or (iii) lack of response by the patient to the cancer treatment or therapy; and further wherein the cancer patient’s sample uPA level is considered elevated or increased if it is above a normal uPA value of 1924 pgml; the cancer patient’s sample PAI-1 level is considered elevated or increased if it is above a normal PAI-1 value of 63 ngml; and the cancer patient’s sample uPA:PAI-1 complex level is considered elevated or increased if it is above a normal uPA:PAI-1 complex value of 293 pgml.
38. The method according to claim 37, wherein the cancer patient has a solid tumor cancer.
39. The method according to claim 37, wherein the cancer patient has a cancer selected from lung, breast (mammary), prostate, cervix, ovary, vulva, vagina, endometrium, bladder, esophagus, head and neck, kidney, liver, stomach, or colon cancer.
40. The method according to claim 39, wherein the cancer is breast cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, or prostate cancer.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A paint storage apparatus comprising:
a. at least one container having an inner volume to accommodate at least one paint;
b. at least one tray having an upper surface and a lower surface; and
c. one or more recesses having a mouth at the upper surface of the tray, at least one wall extending downward from the tray upper surface forming cavity adapted to accommodate the container, and an outer body extending from the lower surface of the tray.
2. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, further comprising one or more applicators capable of accessing the inner volume of at least one container attaches to the containers.
3. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, further comprising one or more dispensers capable of accessing the inner volume of at least one container attaches to the containers.
4. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one cap to seal said container.
5. The paint storage apparatus of claim 4, wherein one or more dispensers are attached to the cap.
6. The paint storage apparatus of claim 4, wherein one or more applicators are attached to the cap.
7. The paint storage apparatus of claim 6, wherein the applicator is a brush extending from the cap into the inner volume of the container.
8. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the upper surface of said tray is adapted to accommodate one or more dispensers.
9. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the upper surface of said tray is adapted to accommodate one or more applicators.
10. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the containers are sufficiently clear to allow for identification of one or more paints.
11. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trays are sufficiently clear to allow for identification of one or more paints.
12. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a means for identifying the content of the container.
13. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a means for identifying the contents of the tray.
14. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one handle attached to one or more trays.
15. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tray has two or more recesses capable of accommodating containers of one or more sizes.
16. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the recesses are capable of accommodating containers of one or more sizes.
17. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the container attaches to the tray.
18. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein said trays are stackable by placing the recess outer body of a first tray in the recess mouth of a second tray.
19. The paint storage apparatus of claim 18, wherein the recess outer body of the first tray removably attaches to the recess mouth of the second tray.
20. The paint storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the outer body recess of a first tray seals one or more containers.