Nucleotide sequences encoding variable regions of heavy and light chains of monoclonal antibody 1f7, an anti-idiotypic antibody reactive with anti-hiv antibodies

Abstract

Nucleotide sequences encoding the variable heavy and light chains of the murine monoclonal antibody 1F7 are disclosed. The 1F7 antibody is an effective immune modulator that has anti-idiotypic binding affinity for anti-HIV antibodies. Polypeptides containing at least one complementarity-determining region (CDR) or framework-determining region (FR) of the variable heavy or variable light chains of 1F7, as well as the polynucleotides encoding them, can be used to modulate the immune response to HIV infection. Unnecessary, and potentially adverse, murine segments of the variable chains falling outside the CDRs can be replaced with human sequences to afford humanized chimeric antibodies and antibody fragments.