Appeal No. 2001-1970 Page 4
Application No. 08/260,190
specification discloses the full-length MN cDNA sequence. See Figure 15 and
SEQ ID NO:5.
The specification discloses that MN was found to be expressed in a
variety of tumor cells but not in normal tissues, with the exception of stomach
tissue. See id., pages 8-9. “MN antigen was found by immunohistochemical
staining to be prevalent in tumor cells. . . . Thus, the MN gene is strongly
correlated with tumorigenesis and is considered to be a putative oncogene.” Id.,
page 9.
The specification discloses that “[a]ntisense nucleic acid sequences
substantially complementary to mRNA transcribed from MN genes . . can be
used to reduce or prevent expression of the MN gene. . . . Such antisense
nucleic acid sequences, preferably oligonucleotides, by hybridizing to the MN
mRNA, particularly in the vicinity of the ribosome binding site and translation
initiation point, inhibits [sic] translation of the mRNA. Thus, the use of such
antisense nucleic acid sequences may be considered to be a form of cancer
therapy.” Pages 92-93.
The specification discloses that non-tumorigenic (CGL1) cells1 that were
transfected with full-length MN cDNA had increased proliferation rates and
plating efficiency. See pages 64-65. By contrast, when MN-expressing
tumorigenic (CGL3) cells2 were transfected with an MN antisense construct, “the
effect was the opposite of that of the CGL1 cells transfected with the ‘sense’
1 See page 121, line 8 (“non-tumorigenic hybrid clone CGL1”).
2 See page 121, lines 6-7 (“Detected was a 1.5 kb MN-specific mRNA only in two tumorigenic
segregant clones--CGL3 and CGL4.”).
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