Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Detailed Action
The election without traverse filed July 20, 2026, is acknowledged and has been entered. Applicant has elected Group I. Applicant has further elected a species of LPS and the combination of the three amino acid sequences of Arg-Gly-Asp, Leu-Asp-Val, and SEQ ID NO: 3.
The amendment filed July 20, 2026, is acknowledged and has been entered. Claims 23 and 25 have been canceled. Claims 12, 15, 16, 18, 19, 24 and 26 have been amended.
Claims 12-22, 24 and 26-31 are pending. Claims 16-22 are withdrawn from further consideration, as being drawn to non-elected invention. Claims 12-15, 24 and 26-31 are under consideration.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements have been considered. With respect to the information disclosure statements filed July 20, 2026, these information disclosure statements duplicate previous information disclosure statements so they have been crossed out.
Claim Objections
Claims 12 and 15 are objected to for reciting “preparing isolating”. It appears the claims should recite “preparing isolated”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless --
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 12-15, 24, 26 and 30-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Katayama et al (WO 2014/136845 A1) as evidenced by Exhibit A (translation of WO 2014/136845 A1) and as evidenced by US Patent 8,927,273.
With respect to claims 12-15 and 26, Katayama et al discloses methods comprising steps of preparing isolated dendritic cells, treating the isolated dendritic cells with a fibronectin peptide fragment comprising cell adhesion domains, such as CH-296 in a culture and then activating the dendritic cells with LPS and culturing the treated dendritic cells with T cells (immune cells) (see entire translation, e.g., pages 1-5). As evidenced by US Patent 8,927,273, CH-296 has the sequence of SEQ ID NO:13 from 8,927,273 (see sequence below) which comprises PHSRN, RGD and LDV and is at least 11 amino acids where the sequences are linked by amino acids that link the three sequences (linked by a linker).
With respect to claims 30-31, Katayama et al discloses that the fibronectin peptide fragment at a concentration of 200 µg/ml or more in the methods (see page 4, e.g., 500 µg/ml) and that the dendritic cells are derived from monocytes (see pages 3 and 5).
CH-296 from WO2014136845A1 and SEQ ID NO:13 from 8,927,273
PTDLRFTNIGPDTMRVTWAPPPSIDLTNFLVRYSPVKNEEDVAELSISPSDNAVVLTNLL
PGTEYVVSVSSVYEQHESTPLRGRQKTGLDSPTGIDFSDITANSFTVHWIAPRATITGYR
IRHHPEHFSGRPREDRVPHSRNSITLTNLTPGTEYVVSIVALNGREESPLLIGQQSTVSD
VPRDLEVVAATPTSLLISWDAPAVTVRYYRITYGETGGNSPVQEFTVPGSKSTATISGLK
PGVDYTITVYAVTGRGDSPASSKPISINYRTEIDKPSMAIPAPTDLKFTQVTPTSLSAQW
TPPNVQLTGYRVRVTPKEKTGPMKEINLAPDSSSVVVSGLMVATKYEVSVYALKDTLTSR
PAQGVVTTLENVSPPRRARVTDATETTITISWRTKTETITGFQVDAVPANGQTPIQRTIK
PDVRSYTITGLQPGTDYKIYLYTLNDNARSSPVVIDASTAIDAPSNLRFLATTPNSLLVS
WQPPRARITGYIIKYEKPGSPPREVVPRPRPGVTEATITGLEPGTEYTIYVIALKNNQKS
EPLIGRKKTDELPQLVTLPHPNLHGPEILDVPST
Therefore, Katayama et al is deemed to anticipate the instant claims absent a showing otherwise.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 12-15, 24, 26-28 and 30-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Katayama et al (WO 2014/136845 A1) as evidenced by Exhibit A (translation of WO 2014/136845 A1) and as evidenced by US Patent 8,927,273, Mardilovich et al (Langmuir, 22(7):3259-3264, 2006, IDS) and Akiyama et al (Cancer and Metastasis Reviews, 14:173-189, 1995).
With respect to claims 12-15 and 26, Katayama et al discloses methods comprising steps of preparing isolated dendritic cells, treating the isolated dendritic cells with a fibronectin peptide fragment comprising fibronectin cell adhesion domains, such as CH-296 in a culture and then activating the dendritic cells with LPS and culturing the treated dendritic cells with T cells (immune cells) (see entire translation, e.g., pages 1-5). As evidenced by US Patent 8,927,273, CH-296 has the sequence of SEQ ID NO:13 from 8,927,273 (see sequence above) which comprises PHSRN, RGD and LDV and is at least 11 amino acids where the sequences are linked by amino acids that link the three sequences (linked by a linker).
With respect to claims 30-31, Katayama et al discloses that the fibronectin peptide fragment at a concentration of 200 µg/ml or more in the methods (see page 4, e.g., 500 µg/ml) and that the dendritic cells are derived from monocytes (see pages 3 and 5).
Mardilovich et al discloses fibronectin mimetic peptides comprising PHSRN and RGD, linked by a linker wherein the linker consists of glycine and serine that has a length of 8 aa and methods of chemically synthesizing them (see abstract and Table 1).
Akiyama et al discloses fibronectin cell adhesion regions (domains) comprising PHSRN, RGD and LDV (see abstract).
Accordingly, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to link fibronectin cell adhesion regions (domains) comprising PHSRN, RGD and LDV with a linker consisting of glycine and serine that has a length of 8 aa and use them in the methods of Katayama et al because these three peptide sequences are disclosed as fibronectin cell adhesion regions which would be expected to work in the methods of Katayama et al which discloses using cell adhesion domains as fibronectin mimetics in their methods. Notably, smaller peptides comprising PHSRN, RGD and LDV with a linker consisting of glycine and serine that has a length of 8 aa would have the advantage over the CH-296 peptide comprising PHSRN, RGD and LDV of Katayama et al because the smaller peptide could be chemically synthesized or recombinantly produced and the smaller size would be expected to be facilitate production. Furthermore, one of skill in the art would see such a combination as simple substitution of one known element (the CH-296 peptide comprising PHSRN, RGD and LDV) for another (fibronectin cell adhesion regions (domains) comprising PHSRN, RGD and LDV linked with a linker consisting of glycine and serine that has a length of 8 aa) to yield predictable results and combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results because these peptide domains are known cell adhesion regions that are used in fibronectin mimetics.
Accordingly, the invention as a whole was prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made, as evidenced by the references.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed. Claim 29 is objected to for depending from a rejected base claim.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brad Duffy whose telephone number is (571) 272-9935. The Examiner works a flexible schedule and can normally be reached Monday through Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Julie Wu can be reached on (571) 272-5205. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Respectfully,
Brad Duffy
571-272-9935
/Brad Duffy/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1643
September 30, 2026
