Appeal No. 2001-0759
Application 08/809,186
characteristics of any of the states mentioned supra and are likely to be under a
complex regulatory cascade dictated by the tissue type.” Therefore, the examiner
submits “it would appear tenuous to the skilled artisan to conclude that HIV-1 Vpr is
capable of modulating differentiation and cellular proliferation in all cell types and lines.”
Id. The examiner concludes that the specification fails to provide sufficient guidance
pertaining to the ability of Vpr to modulate cellular events in vivo or at the clinical level.
Answer, pages 5-6. Further, the examiner finds that the specification “fails to provide
sufficient guidance pertaining to those cell types (e.g. differentiated; undifferentiated;
lymphocytic; tumor cells) that are susceptible to Vpr cellular replicative modulatory
functions.” Answer, page 5.
It is in this argument that it becomes clear that the examiner believes that the
claim scope still encompasses “all cell types and lines” and that the claims are not
limited to T cells, B cells and monocytes.
Six of the references in support of the position of lack of enablement of the
pending claims are general in nature and are relied for their disclosure that cellular
proliferation, differentiation, and development involve a complex series of biochemical
and molecular mechanisms that are closely governed by numerous stimulatory and
inhibitory factors. Answer, page 5. Only Levy is pertinent to the vpr protein and its
activity.
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