Appeal No. 2002-1360 Page 5
Application No. 09/133,942
3. In the first working example (pages 8-11), solutions containing varying
concentrations of UTI were prepared and mixed with buffer. The absorbance of
the mixture was measured, then anti-UTI antibody solution was added and the
absorbance was measured again. The change in absorbance indicated the UTI
concentration.
As used in immunology, “agglutination” means “[c]lumping of particulate
antigens, e.g. red cells, bacteria, etc. by reaction with specific antibody which
forms bridges between antigenic determinants on contiguous particles.” See
Herbert,1 page 6. Precipitation, by contrast, means “the formation of a visible
complex on the addition of soluble antibody to soluble antigen.” Id., page 179.
See also Leffell,2 page 120: “Precipitation and agglutination were the first
methods employed for demonstrating autoantibodies in human sera.
Precipitation of cardiolipin has long served as a method for supporting the
diagnosis of syphilis. . . . Agglutination reactions are highly sensitive methods for
demonstrating antibody. Indirect, or conditioned, hemagglutination requires that
a soluble antigen be attached to a particle, such as a red blood cell or latex.”
The difference between an assay based on precipitation and one based
on agglutination is discussed in detail by Tizard.3 Tizard states that the
difference between precipitation and agglutination is “determined by the physical
state of the reactants. If antibodies combine with soluble antigens in solution
1 Herbert et al. (eds.), “Dictionary of Immunology,” 3rd edition, Blackwell Scientific Publications
(1985), copy attached.
2 Leffell et al. (eds.), “Handbook of Human Immunology,” CRC Press (1997), copy attached.
3 Tizard, “Immunology: An Introduction,” Saunders College Publishing (1988), copy attached.
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