Appeal No. 95-4464
Application 07/605,788
Cole, et al., (Cole) “Stimulated Platelets Release Amyloid $-
Protein Precursor”, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., Vol. 170, No.
1, pp. 288-295 (1990).
A reference relied on by the appellants and this merits
panel is:
Microbiology, Second Edition, “Characterization of Cultures of
Animal Cells”, (Harper & Row, N.Y. 1973), pp. 1122.
Claims 20, 21 and 23 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Talamo in view of Coon, Wolozin and Cole.
We reverse.
The claimed invention is directed to a method of diagnosing
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) which involves isolating and growing
human olfactory neurons in vitro, contacting said neurons first
with a calcium salt and then an ionophore, and detecting AD-
specific changes in amyloid precursor protein (APP) or A68.
Talamo discloses that “nasal epithelium tissue taken at
autopsy shows unique pathological changes in morphology,
distribution, and immunoreactivity of neuronal structures in
patients with Alzheimer’s disease.” Talamo, p. 736, para. 1.
Talamo reports that “[n]euritic masses in AD olfactory epithelium
were also stained in some cases with antibody ALZ50, which was
reported to be completely specific to Alzheimer’s tissue.”
Talamo, p. 738, para. 2. Talamo suggests neurons in the
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