Appeal No. 2002-1296 Page 7
Application No. 08/957,038
As argued by appellants, the macrophages used in Purchio are of finite life span
and would create an uncontrolled variable if the assay described in Purchio was used to
screen compounds as putative modulators of latent TGF-$1 activation. Appeal Brief,
page 6. The examiner has correctly found that appellants' preferred immortalized, non-
cancerous macrophages, the IC-21 cell line, were known at the time of the present
invention. The examiner is also correct in finding that Huber and Flaumenhaft suggest
studying the activation of TGF-$ so that an understanding of TGF activity may be had
which may allow effective interference with inappropriate TGF-$ activity. However, the
references relied upon by the examiner that are directed to studying the activation of
TGF-$, use macrophages, not immortalized, non-cancerous macrophages as required
by the claims on appeal. The mere existence of cell lines such as IC-21 does not in
and of itself suggest modifying the assay described in Purchio in the manner required to
arrive at the subject matter set forth in the claims on appeal. The “motivation” identified
by the examiner, the desire to “to elucidate physiological mechanisms of activation of
LnTGF-$ or to understand how the activation of latent TGF-$ is controlled,” would be
accomplished simply by following the references’ methods which use macrophages.
On this record, the only reason, suggestion, or motivation to modify Purchio in the
manner proposed by the exmainer comes from appellants' disclosure of the present
invention, not from the teachings of the applied references.
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