Appeal No. 2002-1630 Page 3
Application No. 09/175,713
Claims 1-14, 17, and 18 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first
paragraph, as nonenabled.
Claims 1-14, 17, and 18 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first
paragraph, as lacking an adequate written description.
We reverse the written description rejection with respect to all the claims.
We also reverse the nonenablement rejection with respect to claims 6-9 but
affirm it with respect to claims 1-5, 10-14, 17, and 18.
Background
“Chemokines (or chemotactic cytokines) are a class of cytokine molecules
capable of chemotactically attracting migratory cells, and are involved in cell
recruitment and activation in inflammation.” Specification, page 1. “Most
chemokines can be divided into two subgroups, CXC (alpha chemokines) or CC
(beta chemokines),” and can also be further grouped into families, based on their
amino acid sequence. Id., page 2.
The specification discloses that chemokines that have been modified at
their amino terminus can interact with chemokine receptors and can have
properties different from those of the unmodified chemokine. See, e.g., pages
16-17. Among the specific amino-terminal modifications disclosed in the
specification are:
• addition of a methionine residue (page 18, lines 22-24)
• addition of an aminooxypentane residue (page 18, line 24, to page 19,
line 4); and
• addition of a “GroHEK” peptide (page 19, lines 9-15).1
1 The GroHEK peptide is a 21-amino acid peptide, shown in SEQ ID NO:5. Specification, page
19, line 10.
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