Appeal No. 95-2889 Page 7
Application No. 07/525,231
35 U.S.C. § 103 over Suzuki and Saunders
Suzuki is directed to a method and apparatus for
electronically counting T-cells within a sample. T-cells are
bound to antibody-coated microspheres to form complexes of a
size that the apparatus can separately detect and thus
selectively count (Suzuki at 1:60 to 2:16). The examiner
acknowledged that Suzuki does not teach a step of comparing
the white blood cell count before the microspheres are bound
to T-cells with a count of the cells remaining after the T-
cells are bound (Paper No. 17 at 3).
Saunders teaches a method of cell counting in which the
effect of certain mononuclear cells (e.g., monocytes) that
normally interfere with the counting of other mononuclear
cells is removed. In one embodiment, a count of T- and B-
cells (i.e., lymphocytes) within a sample is obtained through
the following steps:
1) To obtain a first count, monocytes within the sample
are bound to antibodies labeled with both red and green
fluorochromes such that the labeled monocytes may be
counted by fluorescence detectors. A schematic
illustration of the sample as it is labeled for the first
count appears below:
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