Interference No. 105,188
Short v. Punnonnen
proliferation and/or cytokine secretion. Preferred B
lymphocyte antigens include B7-2 and B7-3 and soluble
fragments or derivatives thereof which bind CTLA4 and/or
CD28 and have the ability to inhibit or induce costimulation
5 of immune cells. In one embodiment, an isolated nucleic
acid which encodes a peptide having the activity of the
human B7-2 B lymphocyte antigen is provided. . . . .
In describing further aspects of the invention disclosed, the
10 Freeman PCT teaches (Exh. 2040, p. 6, ll. 10-19, emphasis added):
Macrophages that express a peptide having the activity of a
B lymphocyte antigen, such as the B7-2 antigen, can be used
as antigen presenting cells, which, when pulsed with an
appropriate pathogen-related antigen or tumor antigen,
15 enhance T cell activation and immune stimulation.
Mammalian cells can be transfected with a suitable
expression vector containing a nucleic acid encoding a
peptide having the activity of a novel B lymphocyte antigen,
such as the B7-2 antigen, ex vivo and then introduced into
20 the host mammal, or alternatively, cells can be transfected
with the gene in vivo via gene therapy techniques. For
example, the nucleic acid encoding peptide having B7-2
activity can be transfected alone, or in combination with
nucleic acids encoding other costimulatory molecules.
25 On the other hand, the Freeman PCT acknowledges in the
Summary of the Invention another aspect of its invention
which relates to proteins which block or fail to deliver a
co-stimulatory signal (Exh. 2040, p. 6, l. 24, to p. 13):
The invention also provides methods for inducing both
30 general immunosuppression and antigen-specific tolerance in
a subject by, for example, blocking the functional
interaction of the novel B lymphocyte antigens of the
invention, e.g. B7-2 and B7-3, to their natural ligand(s) on
T cells or other immune system cells, to thereby block co-
35 stimulation through the receptor-ligand pair. In one
embodiment, inhibitory molecules that can be used to block
the interaction of the natural human B7-2 antigen to its
-6-
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