Genzyme Molecular Oncology announced that the Japanese Patent Office has issued Patent No. 3334806 covering its powerful SAGE technology.

The patent covers the methodology by which SAGE (Serial Analysis of Gene Expression) identifies and measures gene expression. SAGE is a high-efficiency method of comprehensively identifying and quantifying genes expressed in a tissue or cell line. It is being utilized by Genzyme Molecular Oncology in a wide variety of applications such as identifying novel tumor antigens and angiogenesis targets, analyzing the effects of drugs on human tissue, and gaining insight into disease pathways. To date, Genzyme Molecular Oncology has generated a database of more than 6 million tags believed to represent in excess of 125,000 unique transcripts from major cancers and normal tissues.

"This patent confirms the uniqueness of SAGE in the identification and measurement of gene expression," said Gail Maderis, president of Genzyme Molecular Oncology. "SAGE is a powerful technology that has the ability to expand the discovery of therapeutic targets, reduce development time, and improve competitiveness for both our own and our customers'' product development efforts."

SAGE is currently co-marketed in Japan by Genzyme Molecular Oncology and Invitrogen. It also is being used by several Japanese academic groups resulting in numerous publications.

The SAGE process works by analyzing short bits of genetic information from expressed genes that are present in the studied cell. These short sequences, called SAGE tags, are linked together for efficient sequencing analysis. Sequence data is analyzed to identify expressed genes in the cell and the levels at which each gene is expressed. The expression information for each cell type or tissue can be used to determine the gene expression differences between any two cell types or tissues.

SAGE differs from other genomics-based tools because of its combined advantages of comprehensive expressed gene identification and accurate gene expression quantification. The extreme sensitivity of the SAGE technique enables the detection of genes expressed at low levels, which are often undetected by other methods. These rarely expressed genes may ultimately prove to be important factors in the disease process.