Appeal No.: 1996-1307 Paper No. 34
Application No.: 08/038,072 Page 2
The examiner rejected claims 2-4, 7, and 15-19 under 35
U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
R.J. Lefkowitz & M.G. Caron, "Adrenergic receptors:
models for the study of receptors coupled to guanine
nucleotide regulatory proteins", 263 J. Biol. Chem. 4993-
96 (1988) ("Lefkowitz")
or
R.L. Huganir & P. Greengard, "Regulation of receptor
function by protein phosphorylation", 8 Trends Pharm.
Sci. 472-77 (1987) ("Huganir")
in view of Appellants' own admissions (Paper No. 33 (Ex.
Ans.) at 3).
Lefkowitz and Huganir teach that phosphorylation of the
$ adrenergic receptor ("$ AR") desensitizes the receptor to an2 1
agonist. The desensitization may be heterologous (i.e.,
without the receptor being occupied by agonist) or homologous
(i.e., only occurs in agonist occupied receptor).
Heterologous desensitization is thought to be caused by
phosphorylation of the $ AR by cAMP -dependent protein kinase2 2
while homologous desensitization is thought to be caused by
1In referring to the $ adrenergic receptor, Appellants use
the term "$ AR". In referring to the receptor's kinase,
2
Appellant uses the shorthand term "$ar kinase" (Paper No.
1(Spec.) at e.g., 10, 13). We will use the same shorthand
terminology that Appellants use.
2Cyclic adenosine monophosphate.
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