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 This action is in response to the papers filed January 28, 2026. Election/Restrictions Applicant’s reply filed 01/28/2026 to the Requirement for Restriction/Election mailed 11/28/2025 is acknowledged. Applicant elected without traverse Invention I, claims 1-10, drawn to a method of culturing natural killer cells, and the species of ovarian cancer, as the cancer type. Claims 11-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/28/2026. Claim Listing The instantly pending claims are the original claims filed 04/14/2023 . Claims 1-13 are pending. Claims 11-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention Claims 1-10 are under examination. Priority The instant application 18/300,852 was filed on 04/14/2023 . This application is a continuation (CON) of international application PCT/KR2021/014245 filed 10/14/2021 , claiming priority based on Korean patent a pplication KR10-2020-0134623 filed 10/16/2020. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. While a certified copy of the foreign patent application is provided with the instant application, a certified English translation of said foreign patent application has not been provided. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement s (IDS) submitted on 04/14/2023 and 01/28/2026 h ave been considered. The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, or by applicant in an information disclosure statement (IDS), they have not been considered. Claim Objections Claims 2-3 are objected to because of the following informalities: In claim 2, the phrase “ TRAIL (TNFSF1 0)” should either be (1) “TRAIL” or (2) “TNFSF10” because one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized TRAIL and TNFSF1 0 as synonyms for the same gene. In claim 3, the phrase “DAP10 ( HCST)” should either be (1) “DAP10” or (2) “HCST” because one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized DAP10 and HCST as synonyms for the same gene. In claim 3, the phrase “GM-CSF ( CSF2)” should either be (1) “GM-CSF” or (2) “CSF2” because one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized GM-CSF and CSF2 as synonyms for the same gene. In claim 3, the phrase “IL-8 ( CXCL8)” should either be (1) “IL-8” or (2) “CXCL8” because one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized IL-8 and CXCL8 as synonyms for the same gene. In claim 3, the phrase “ Noxa ( PAMIP1)” should either be (1) “ Noxa ” or (2) “PAMIP1” because one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized Noxa and PAMIP1 as synonyms for the same gene. Appropriate action is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d): (d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers. The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph: Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers. Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Dependent claim 5 recites “[t]he method of claim 1 , wherein step 1) is performed through leukapheresis. ” However, claim 1 already recites that step 1) is performed “through leukapheresis .” Accordingly, dependent claim 5 is improper dependent for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends . Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements. 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 1- 6, 8, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al . (2019) “ Cytotoxic effects of ex vivo-expanded natural killer cell-enriched lymphocytes (MYJ1633) against liver cancer ” BMC cancer, 19 : 817 , 11 pages ; in view of KR20190093499A to Woo et al. KR20190093499A was published in a non-English language. This rejection relies upon a machine translation from Espacenet (European Patent Office), and a paper copy of which is provided with this action. Choi teaches a method of culturing natural killer (NK) cells, the method comprising: selecting mononuclear cells from human peripheral blood by drawing blood; obtaining CD3-CD56+ NK cells from the selected mononuclear cells; and treating the obtained CD3-CD56+ NK cells with IL-2, anti-NKp46 antibody, and plasma, followed by culturing in a feeder cell-free culture medium. See, Abstract; Methods on pg. 2-3; and Figures 1-2. Choi teaches that the blood sample containing peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was obtained by drawing blood (pg. 2, right column, first full paragraph). Choi does not teach that the blood sample containing PBMCs was obtained by “leukapheresis,” as claimed in claim 1. Woo is relevant prior art for teaching a method of culturing NK cells obtained from a blood sample containing PBMCs. See, e.g., Abstract; par. 7-13. The “blood sample” from whole blood or leukapheresis . See, par. 20-21 . Accordingly, prior to the effective filing date of the instantly claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that drawing blood or le ukapheresis is a suitable means of obtaining a blood sample containing PBMCs for the culture of NK cells. Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute a blood sample obtained by blood drawing, as found in Choi, with a blood sample obtained by leukapheresis , as found in Woo, with a reasonable expectation of success because the simple substitution of one known element for another would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention. For these reasons, claim 1 would have been prima facie obvious over the prior art. Dependent claims 2-4 functionally-describe the NK cells obtained by the process of claim 1 as possessing increased expression of NKG2D, NKp30, NKp44, NKp46 , FASL , TRAIL , Granzyme A, Granzyme K, Perforin , CCL 1, CCR5 , DAP10 , IL-2RA , GM-CSF and/or BCL-2 ; a decreased expression of KIR3DL2 , Siglec9 , IL-8, IL-1 0 and/or Noxa ; and/or increased purity , cell proliferation fold and cancer cell killing ability , relative to NK cells before culture. Claim scope is not limited by claim language that does not limit a claim to a particular structure. See, MPEP 2111.04. In this case, dependent claims 2-4 describe functional characteristics of the NK cells obtained by the process of claim 1 and are not found to necessarily result in a structural or manipulative difference between the claimed invention and the prior art. In this case, because the prior art references teach or fairly suggest the process of culturing NK cells, as claimed in claim 1, the functional characteristics of dependent claims 2-4 would naturally flow from the teachings of the prior art references. Accordingly, absent evidence to the contrary, dependent claims 2-4 would have been prima facie obvious over the prior art. Regarding dependent claim 5, the limitation wherein the first step is performed through leukapheresis has been addressed with respect to claim 1. Regarding dependent claim 6, Woo teaches obtaining NK cells from PBMCs through leukapheresis (par. 20-21), which is a closed system. Regarding dependent claim 8, Choi teaches the plasma is separated from human peripheral blood. See, pg. 2, right column, first full paragraph. Regarding dependent claim 10, Choi teaches culturing is to culture NKs by culturing PBMCs. See, e.g., Abstract; Figure 1. Dependent claims 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al . (2019) “ Cytotoxic effects of ex vivo-expanded natural killer cell-enriched lymphocytes (MYJ1633) against liver cancer ” BMC cancer, 19 : 817 , 11 pages; and KR20190093499A to Woo et al.; as applied to claims 1-6, 8, and 10 above; in further view of KR20170000798A to Seok et al. Regarding dependent claim 7, Choi and Woo do not teach that the NK cells are cryopreserved and then thawed, as claimed. Seok is relevant prior art for teaching a method of culturing NK cells in a medium containing IL-2, anti-NKp46 antibody and plasma. See, e.g., Abstract; par. 9-12. Seok further teaches the PBMCs used for NK cell production may also be cryopreserved and then thawed. See, par. 17. Therefore, prior to the effective filing date of the instantly claimed invention, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the process of Choi by having the NK cells cryopreserved and then thawed, as suggested by Seok, with a reasonable expectation of success because cryopreservation enables viable PBMCs to be collected and stored for a period of time for later use, e.g., for shipping from a blood collection center to a clinical setting or laboratory for ex vivo expansion and/or transplantation. Regarding dependent claim 9, Choi discloses that culturing is performed in the presence of antibodies ( i.e., gamma globulin ). See, e.g., Abstract; Figure 1. Seok teaches culturing is performed in the presence of gamma globulin (IgG) and fibronecti n. See, e.g., par. 12, 18. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT JAMES J GRABER whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)270-3988 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday-Thursday: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT James D Schultz can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-0763 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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