IMPROVED ANTIBODIES GDF-8 ANTAGONISTS AND THEIR USE Russian patent published in 2017 - IPC C07K16/00 A61K39/395 

FIELD: biotechnology.

SUBSTANCE: antibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof that specifically binds to GDF-8 is described. An antibody or a fragment includes: a variable heavy (VH) antibody region comprising the first, the second and the third complementarity determining regions (CDRs) from the VH region defined by the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 44; and a variable light (VL) antibody region comprising the first, the second and the third complementarity determining regions (CDRs) from the VL region defined by the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 46. The aforementioned VH region includes leucine at the amino acid position corresponding to residue number 111 of SEQ ID NO: 44 (position 108 as per Kabat). A pharmaceutical composition containing the described antibody is presented. Also nucleic acids encoding the light and heavy chains of the described antibody are presented.

EFFECT: invention allows to obtain improved neutralizing antibodies against GDF-8 capable of being expressed at a much higher level in the host cells than the previously used anti-GDF-8 antibodies, and to expand the arsenal of agents and methods for muscle mass or strength increase and treatment or prevention of muscle disorders, neuromuscular disorders, metabolic disorders, adipose tissue disorders or bone disorders.

65 cl, 12 dwg, 10 tbl, 11 ex