Appeal No. 2002-0766 Page 2
Application No. 08/793,053
wherein an increased amount of osteocalcin or osteonectin, in comparison
to the amount expressed by the bone precursor cells of a young or middle-aged
person, is indicative of said subject being at risk of developing an age-related
bond disorder.
The examiner does not rely on any references.
Claims 89 and 91-100 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first
paragraph, as nonenabled.
We reverse.
Background
“The process of aging in general is associated with a progressive
diminution of bone-accumulation capacity.” Specification, page 3. “Reductions
in osteoblast function or numbers, of necessity, leads [sic] to the loss of bone-
forming capacity. . . . Bone cells from older individuals, in vitro, have the capacity
to respond to growth factors, but their synthetic and proliferative capacity is
diminished. . . . This results in diminished bone precursor cell and osteoblast
numbers.” Id.
“A number of non-collagenous matrix proteins . . . are involved in bone
formation. Osteonectin . . . is believed to initiate nucleation during the mineral
phase of bone deposition. . . . Bone gla-protein (BGP, osteocalcin) . . . is specific
for bone and may regulate Ca++ deposition.” Id., pages 8-9. The specification
discloses that “osteonectin and osteocalcin antigenic expression by human
preosteoblast cells increases with increasing age.” Page 38.1 The specification
1 “A preosteoblast is a cell that differentiates into an osteoblast.” Specification, page 32. Bone
precursor cells include preosteoblasts and other types of cells. Id.
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