Appeal No. 2002-0091 Page 2
Application No. 08/479,884
from the N-terminus of 191-amino acid human growth hormone, wherein said
variant is not hGH-V.
The examiner does not rely on any references.
All of the pending claims stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first
paragraph, as nonenabled.
We reverse.
Background
“Human growth hormone (hGH) . . . exhibits a multitude of biological effects
including linear growth (somatogenesis), lactation, activation of macrophages,
insulin-like effects and diabetagenic effects.” Specification, page 5. “The three-
dimensional structure of hGH is not available.” Id., page 6. Attempts have been
made to map the receptor-binding site in hGH using either peptide fragments or
monoclonal antibodies, but these techniques have not produced acceptable
results. See id., pages 6-7.
The specification discloses a method for identifying active domains in
proteins by systematically replacing amino acid residues of the wild-type protein to
create protein variants, and comparing the activity of the variants to that of the
wild-type protein. See, e.g., pages 13-14. The method is exemplified with hGH,
among other proteins. See pages 44-57.
The specification provides numerous exemplary hGH variants,1 most having
an amino acid substitution in a single position. See, e.g., pages 76-79. Other
1 Appellants put the number at “over 150”, page 6 of the Appeal Brief, which the examiner does not
dispute. Not all of these embodiments are encompassed by claim 88, however.
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