Appeal No. 2003-1668 Page 2
Application No. 08/479,883
Claims 46 and 54 are representative of the claims on appeal and read as
follows:
46. A variant of a native mature mammalian growth hormone, said variant
having a non-naturally occurring amino acid sequence or a covalent modification,
comprising:
(a) a first mutation in a first region corresponding to residue 1 to residue 15
of human growth hormone, numbered from the N-terminus; and
(b) a second mutation in a second region corresponding to residue 106 to
residue 128 of human growth hormone, numbered from the N-
terminus.
54. A variant of a native mature mammalian growth hormone, said variant
having a non-naturally occurring amino acid sequence or a covalent modification,
comprising:
(a) a first mutation in a first region selected from the group consisting of
(i) amino acid residue L15, R16, R19 and Q22, (ii) the C-terminal 2/3 of
the loop linking helices 1 and 2, and (iii) the C-terminal 1/2 of helix 4;
and
(b) a second mutation in a second region selected from the group
consisting of (i) a region corresponding to residue 1 to residue 15 of
human growth hormone and (ii) a region corresponding to residue 106
to residue 128 of human growth hormone, numbered from the N-
terminus.
The examiner does not rely on any references.
Claims 41-43, 45-50, 54-58, 62-64, and 72-76 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, as nonenabled. We reverse.
Background
“Ligand induced receptor oligomerization has been proposed as a
mechanism of signal transduction for the large family of tyrosine kinase receptors
that contain an extracellular ligand binding domain.” Specification, page 1. The
specification discloses that “growth hormones and the class of conformational
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