Appeal 2007-0628
Application 10/225,082
inadequate blood flow to brain tissue, and hemorrhagic stroke is caused by a
ruptured blood vessel in the brain (id. at 2). The different types of stroke
require different treatments (id. at 3).
The Specification discloses that the two types of stroke can be
distinguished from each other, and from transient ischemic attacks (TIAs),
by assaying for certain proteins in the blood (id. at 4). More precisely, the
Specification states that assaying for at least one specific marker of cerebral
injury and at least one non-specific marker of cerebral injury provides a
“rapid, sensitive and specific diagnostic assay to be used in the diagnosis and
differentiation of various forms of stroke and TIAs” (id.).
Specific markers of cerebral injury are “polypeptides that are
associated with brain tissue and neural cells, and which can be correlated
with a cerebral injury, but are not correlated with other types of injury” (id.
at 8:1-3). They include S100β (id. at 8:6). “[S]pecific markers of cerebral
injury may . . . be found in the blood . . . as well as the CSF of a patient
experiencing stroke or TIAs” (id. at 15:13-15). Non-specific markers of
cerebral injury are “polypeptides that are elevated in the event of cerebral
injury, but may also be elevated due to non-cerebral events,” and include
caspase-3 (id. at 8:10-11, 16).
DISCUSSION
1. CLAIMS
Claims 45, 47, 50, 53-69, 73, 75, 77, 80, 83-99, and 103 are on appeal.
Claims 46, 48, 49, 51, 52, 70-72, 74, 76, 78, 79, 81, 82, 100-102, and 104
are also pending but have been withdrawn from consideration by the
Examiner.
2
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