Patent 7670764 was granted and assigned to Prometheus Laboratories on March, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The present invention provides a method of diagnosing the presence or severity of tissue fibrosis in an individual by detecting α2-macroglobulin (α2-MG) in a sample from the individual; detecting hyaluronic acid (HA) in a sample from the individual; detecting tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) in a sample from the individual; and diagnosing the presence or severity of tissue fibrosis in the individual based on the presence or level of α2-MG, HA and TIMP-1.