Appeal 2007-2953
Application 10/175,749
Appellants argue that the identification of SEQ ID NO:74 as a
PDI-related protein is sufficient to establish the utility of the claimed
antibodies because it has useful therapeutic applications:
In view of the known involvement of other members of the PDI
family as regulators of protein folding and cellular viability, the
identification of a new member of this family is clearly
beneficial to the public, since it allows the development of
novel therapies directed to the targeting and/or treatment of
diseases involving protein misfolding and cellular
viability/proliferation, such as various types of cancer.
. . . In addition, since PDI was known to be involved in the
regulation of protein folding and cellular viability/proliferation,
that activity would be expected to be useful for a variety of
purposes, including the production of therapeutics to treat
different types of cancers.
(Br. 9.)
This argument does not persuade us that Appellants have disclosed a
utility for the claimed antibodies that meets the requirements of § 101.
Appellants have described PDI as “a catalyst of disulfide formation and
isomerization during protein folding” and PDI-related proteins as “generally
of interest in the study of redox reactions and related processes.”
(WO 99/46281, at 9.)
Appellants have pointed to nothing in the present specification or in
any of the priority documents that describes any specific “diseases involving
protein misfolding and cellular viability/proliferation, such as various types
of cancer,” that would be amenable to treatment with either the polypeptide
of SEQ ID NO:74 or an inhibitor of that polypeptide. Nor have Appellants
pointed to any other evidence showing that PDI-related proteins were
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