Appeal No. 1997-3322
Application No. 08/353,940
such person would have a reasonable expectation of success; both the suggestion and
reasonable expectation of success must be founded in prior art, not in applicant's
disclosure. In re Vaeck, 947 F.2d 488, 493, 20 USPQ2d 1438, 1443 (Fed. Cir. 1991).
Novotny 1986 explores the possiblility that the difference in antigen recognition
between B and T cells derives from a structural difference in their respective antigen
specific receptors. Novotny 1986 compared the extracellular segments of the T-cell
receptor ", $ and ( polypeptide chains and the terminal segment of the T-cell T8 antigen
chain with the corresponding immunoglobulins whose three-dimensional structure are
known. It was concluded that the binding sites of the antigen-specific
T-cell ", $-chain receptors and of the antibodies are very similar in their overall geometry.
Novotny 1986, abstract. Novotny 1986 does not disclose a vector which expresses and
secretes T-cell " or $-chain receptors in gram negative bacteria, as claimed.
Skerra is relied on by the examiner for the disclosure of an expression system
which allows for the production of a completely functional variable fragment of an antibody
in E. coli. Skerra suggests that the variable domains of the phophorylcholine-binding
antibody were secreted together into the periplasmic space. It is argued by the examiner
that “it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art have
substituted one of the genes encoding the T-cell receptor variable domain (" or $) of
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