Appeal No. 1997-3274 Page 4
Application No. 08/015,248
an epitope borne by either all or a part of the middle five amino acids [(i.e., PGRAF)] or
a combination of these amino acids with some of the flanking amino acids.@1 Page 69.
The closest peptide immunogen described by Montagnier has the amino acid sequence
LNQSVEINCTRPNNNTRKSIRIQRGPGR, which overlaps with the fifteen amino acid
BAT 123 peptide over a stretch of eight amino acids - only three of which (underlined)
correspond to middle five amino acids (the putative BAT123 epitope). Similarly,
Kennedy raises polyclonal antibodies against six peptides, one of which has the
sequence TRPNNNTRKSIRIQRGPG - in this case, the peptide overlaps with the
BAT123 peptide for a stretch of seven amino acids, only two of which (underlined)
correspond to the putative BAT123 epitope. In our view, the examiner has not
established that either Montagnier or Kennedy discloses peptide immunogens which
would elicit antibodies specific for the same epitope as BAT123.
Claims 27 and 30 are somewhat broader than claim 12, in that they merely
require chimeric antibodies that bind an epitope somewhere in the amino acid
sequence used to raise the BAT123 antibody, i.e., somewhere in the amino acid
1 According to the specification, three monoclonal antibodies, BAT123, BAT267
and BAT085, Ashowed very clear and specific reactivities with particular peptides in [a]
Western blot assay . . . The 15 amino acid long peptides reactive with BAT267 and
BAT123 overlap by 5 amino acids [at the carboxy-terminus of the BAT123 peptide, but],
the antibodies react with just one of them and do not react with the other to any
measurable extent. The antibodies do not react with peptides overlapping at the other
ends either . . .@ Specification, paragraph bridging pages 68 and 69.
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