Appeal No. 2001-2308
Application 07/704,578
Background
Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a natural substance having many biological activities. Many
different names have been given to the natural substance by researchers obtaining the
protein from a variety of different sources: 26 KD protein, IFN-beta-2, BCDF, and BSF-2,
for example (specification, page 2). A cDNA sequence encoding IL-6 was isolated from
an HTLV-transformed T cell line (specification, page 12). The cDNA is 1.1 kb long, and
contains an open reading frame of 636 nucleotides encoding a protein of 212 amino acids
including a leader secretory sequence (specification, page 8). The invention at bar
involves the protein sequence from amino acids 28 through 212 (specification, page 7,
and Figure 1). The disclosure includes production of glycosylated IL-6 in mammalian cell
lines. The protein produced in a mammalian cell line has an apparent molecular weight
range of approximately 20 to 35 KD, indicative of glycosylation (e.g. specification, page
21). Importantly, the claims before us are limited to the nonglycosylated protein.
Production of nonglycosylated IL-6 in bacterial cells is disclosed, for example, at
specification pages 6, 7, 18-20.
Rather than recapitulating the arguments of appellant and examiner, we refer to
pages 11-33 of the Brief for the appellant’s position, and pages 4-15 of the Examiner’s
Answer for the examiner’s position.
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