Appeal No. 1995-2903
Application No. 07/693,055
1. A method for detecting antibodies to a virus comprising the steps of:
coating an assay surface with a lectin;
immobilizing viral glycoprotein on the lectin-coated surface;
incubating a test sample with the immobilized glycoproteins for a time sufficient for
anti-virus antibodies present in the test sample to bind the immobilized glycoprotein; and
adding a marker system to detect anti-virus antibodies bound to the immobilized
glycoproteins.
The references relied upon by the examiner are:
Larson et al. (Larson) 4,374,127 February 15, 1983
Neurath et al. (Neurath) 4,877,725 October 31, 1989
(Filed April 1, 1985)
Grounds of Rejection
Claims 1-8, 11-23, and 26-30 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103. As evidence
of obviousness, the examiner relies on Neurath and Larson.
We reverse.
BACKGROUND
At page 4 of the specification, the applicant describes the invention as a method for
preparing solid-phase viral glycoproteins for use in immunoassays to detect virus-specific
antibodies using a lectin-coated surface to immobilize viral glycoproteins. The assay
surface is stated to be passively or covalently coated with lectin which serves to selectively
immobilize viral glycoproteins which have been removed from the serum-free conditioned
medium of virus-producing cell cultures. The viral glycoproteins are said to retain their
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