Transgenic non-human animals capable of producing heterologous antibodies
AssigneeGenPharm International, Inc.
InventorsNils Lonberg, Robert M. Kay
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to transgenic non-human animals capable of producing heterologous antibodies and methods for producing human sequence antibodies which bind to human antigens with substantial affinity.
Claims16
A monoclonal human immunoglobulin composition free of other human proteins, comprising a human sequence IgG having a binding constant of at least 2.times.10.sup.9 M.sup.-1 for binding to a predetermined human antigen, wherein said immunoglobulin consists of:
- a somatically mutated human sequence light chain composed of (1) a light chain variable region having a polypeptide sequence which is substantially identical to a polypeptide sequence encoded by a human V.sub.L gene segment and a human J.sub.L segment, and (2) a light chain constant region having a polypeptide sequence which is substantially identical to a polypeptide sequence encoded by a human C.sub.L gene segment;
- and
- a somatically mutated human sequence heavy chain composed of a (1) a heavy chain variable region having a polypeptide sequence which is substantially identical to a polypeptide sequence encoded by a human V.sub.H gene segment, a D region, and a human J.sub.H segment, and (2) a constant region having a polypeptide sequence which is substantially identical to a polypeptide sequence encoded by a human C.sub.H gene segment
- wherein the human sequence heavy chain and human sequence light chain are separately encoded by a human heavy chain transgene and a human light chain transgene integrated into a mouse cell genome.
An immunoglobulin having a binding constant of at least 1.times.10.sup.10 M.sup.-1 for binding to a predetermined human antigen, wherein said inmmunoglobulin is free from other human proteins and is composed of:
- a somatically mutated human sequence light chain composed of (1) a light chain variable region having a polypeptide sequene which is substantially identical to a polypeptide sequence encoded by a human V.sub.L gene segment and a human J.sub.L segment, and (2) a light chain constant region having a polypeptide sequence which is substantially identical to a polypeptide sequence encoded by a human C.sub.L gene segment;
- and
- a somatically mutated human sequence heavy chain composed of a (1) a heavy chain variable region having a polypeptide sequene which is substantially identical to a polypeptide sequence encoded by a human V.sub.H gene segment, a D region, and a human J.sub.H segment, and (2) a constant region having a polypeptide sequence which is substantially identical to a polypeptide sequence encoded by a human gamma isotype C.sub.H gene segment, wherein the immunoglobulin is not from a human B cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.