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AssigneesMedical Research Council, Cambridge Antibody Technology Limited
InventorsAndrew David Griffiths, Hendricus Renerus Jacobus Mattheus Hoogenboom, James David Marks, John McCafferty, Gregory Paul Winter, Geoffrey Walter Grigg
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Methods are disclosed for the production of anti-self antibodies and antibody fragments, being antibodies or fragments of a particular species of mammal which bind self-antigens of that species. Methods comprise providing a library of replicable genetic display packages (rgdps), such as filamentous phage, each rgdp displaying at its surface a member of a specific binding pair which is an antibody or antibody fragment, and each rgdp containing nucleic acid sequence derived from a species of mammal. The nucleic acid sequence in each rgdp encodes a polypeptide chain which is a component part of the sbp member displayed at the surface of that rgdp. Anti-self antibody fragments are selected by binding with a self antigen from the said species of mammal. The displayed antibody fragments may be scFv, Fd, Fab or any other fragment which has the capability of binding antigen. Nucleic acid libraries used may be derived from a rearranged V-gene sequences of unimmunised mammal. Synthetic or artificial libraries are described and shown to be useful.
A method of obtaining a member of a specific binding pair, the specific binding pair member being an antibody or antibody fragment and having an antigen binding site comprising an antibody light chain variable region and an antibody heavy chain variable region, the antigen binding site having binding specificity for an antigen which is a human self antigen for which specific antibodies are not found in sera of humans unimmunized with said self antigen the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.