To obtain a new antibody with light-chain subunit and heavy-chain subunit having polypeptides each containing specific amino acid sequence, respectively, capable of specifically binding to mammal Fas, thus having the activity to induce apoptosis in mammal cells expressing Fas.
This new antibody is such one as to have a polypeptide containing an amino acid sequence corresponding to amino acids No.1 to No.218 and shown by formula I as light-chain subunit and a polypeptide containing an amino acid sequence corresponding to amino acids No.1 to No.451 and shown by formula II as heavy-chain subunit and have the activity to specifically bind to mammal Fas and thus the activity to induce apoptosis in mammal cells expressing Fas; therefore this antibody which recognizes Fas antigen as a cell membrane molecule involved in apoptosis is useful as e.g. a therapeutic agent for diseases caused by the abnormalities in Fas/Fas ligand system. This antibody is obtained by culturing host cells transformed by recombinant vectors containing, respectively, DNAs encoding the amino acid sequences of formula I and formula II.
HARUYAMA HIDEYUKI
SERIZAWA NOBUKI
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