Anti-TNF antibodies and peptides of human tumor necrosis factor

Abstract

Anti-TNF antibodies, fragments and regions thereof which are specific for human tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) and are useful in vivo diagnosis and therapy of a number of TNFα-mediated pathologies and conditions, as well as polynucleotides coding for murine and chimeric antibodies, methods of producing the antibody, methods of use of the anti-TNF antibody, or fragment, region or derivative thereof, in immunoassays and immunotherapeutic approaches are provided.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for treating a neurodegenerative disease in a human, comprising administering to said human at least one anti-TNF monoclonal antibody, or a TNF binding fragment thereof.  
     
     
         2 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the TNF-mediated neurodegenerative disease is multiple sclerosis.  
     
     
         3 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the TNF-mediated disease is selected from AIDS dementia complex, a demyelinating disease, multiple sclerosis, acute transverse myelitis, an extrapyramidal disorder, a cerebellar disorder, a lesion of the corticospinal system, a disorder of the basal ganglia, a cerebellar disorder, a hyperkinetic movement disorder, Huntington's Chorea, senile chorea, a drug-induced movement disorder, a hypokinetic movement disorder, Parkinson's disease, progressive supranucleo palsy, a structural lesion of the cerebellum, a spinocerebellar degeneration, spinal ataxia, Friedreich's ataxia, a cerebellar cortical degeneration, a multiple systems degeneration, a systemic disorder, Refsum's disease, abetalipoprotemia, ataxia telangiectasia, a mitochondrial multi-system disorder, a demyelinating core disorder, acute transverse myelitisa, a disorder of the motor unit, a neurogenic muscular atrophy, anterior horn cell degeneration, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, infantile spinal muscular atrophy, juvenile spinal muscular atrophy, Alzheimer's disease, Down's Syndrome, a diffuse Lewy body disease, senile dementia of Lewy body type, Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, chronic alcoholism, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, Hallerrorden-Spatz disease or dementia pugilistica.