Appeal No.2001-1258 Page 4
Application No. 08/413,805
extracellular domain of GA733-2. Claim 4 is directed to a composition
comprising a pharmaceutically effective amount of the polypeptide of SEQ ID
NO: 2 in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
The examiner rejected the claims as obvious over the combined
disclosures of Szala, Bumol, Hussey, and Johnson. The examiner accurately
characterized Szala as teaching the cloning and expression of full-length
GA733-2, as well as the predicted functional domains of the protein (signal
sequence, extracellular domain, transmembrane domain, and cytoplasmic
domain). Szala also teaches that the “cloning of cDNA for the tumor-associated
GA733-2 antigen . . . will facilitate the production of antigen needed for
immunization strategies.” Page 3542. In addition, Szala teaches that expression
of the disclosed cDNA “will meet a critical need for tumor-associated antigen.
For instance, it will now be possible to compare recombinant tumor-associated
antigen with internal image anti-idiotypic antibodies as agents for the
immunotherapy of carcinoma.” Page 3546. The examiner acknowledged that
Szala does not disclose a truncated GA733-2 variant consisting only of the signal
sequence and extracellular domain.
The examiner cites Bumol as disclosing vectors for producing the
GA733-2 antigen in prokaryotic and eukaryotic host cells.1 The examiner points
in particular to the “prokaryotic expression vector pLKSA that contains the
[GA733-2] coding sequence from which the DNA coding for the 49 C-terminal
1 Bumol refers to the protein as the “KSA” antigen, but the examiner asserts, and Appellants do
not dispute, that KSA and GA733-2 are alternative names for the same protein.
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