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US 6,472,510 B1Granted
CD40 receptor ligands
AssigneeBristol-Myers Squibb Company
InventorsAlejandro A. Aruffo, Jeffrey A. Ledbetter, Ivan Stamenkovic, Randolph Noelle
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AssigneeBristol-Myers Squibb Company
InventorsAlejandro A. Aruffo, Jeffrey A. Ledbetter, Ivan Stamenkovic, Randolph Noelle
Estimating the term…
The present invention relates to a counter-receptor, termed CD40CR, for the CD40 B-cell antigen, and to soluble ligands for this receptor, including fusion molecules comprising at least a portion of CD40 protein. It is based, at least in part, on the discovery that a soluble CD40/immunoglobulin fusion protein was able to inhibit helper T-cell mediated B-cell activation by binding to a novel 39 kD protein receptor on helper T-cell membranes. The present invention provides for a substantially purified CD40CR receptor; for soluble ligands of CD40CR, including antibodies as well as fusion molecules comprising at least a portion of CD40 protein; and for methods of controlling B-cell activation which may be especially useful in the treatment of allergy or autoimmune disease.
A substantially purified cell-free ligand which specifically binds to CD40CR, a 39 kD T-cell protein which binds to the CD40 B-cell antigen and stimulates B-cell cycle entry, proliferation, and differentiation, said ligand:
A substantially purified cell-free CD40/immunoglobulin fusion protein which specifically binds to mouse CD40CR, a 39 kD mouse T-cell protein which binds to the CD40 B-cell antigen and stimulates B-cell cycle entry, proliferation and differentiation, said fusion protein comprising at least a portion of the extracellular domain of a CD40 protein having a sequence as depicted in SEQ. ID. NO.:1, and wherein the extracellular domain at the site of fusion has the amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:3.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.