Antibody having activity of inhibiting hepatitus c virus (hcv) infection and use thereof

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide an antibody inhibiting infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV). The present invention provides an anti-hepatitis C virus antibody that recognizes a whole or a part of the conformation of a hepatitis C virus particle as an epitope and binds thereto, so as to be able to inhibit the binding of hepatitis C virus to the surface of a host cell and to inhibit HCV infection, a humanized antibody thereof, and an inhibitory agent for infection with hepatitis C virus.

1 . The isolated anti-hepatitis C virus antibody, wherein
 a heavy chain variable region contains a complementarity determining region 1 (CDR1 H ), a complementarity determining region 2 (CDR2 H ), and a complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3 H ), comprising respectively the amino acid sequences shown in SEQ ID NOs: 32, 34, and 36 in the sequence listing and   a light chain variable region contains a complementarity determining region 1 (CDR1 L ), a complementarity determining region 2 (CDR2 L ), and a complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3 L ), comprising respectively the amino acid sequences shown in SEQ ID NOs: 39, 41, and 43 in the sequence listing.   
     
     
         2 . The isolated anti-hepatitis C virus antibody according to  claim 1 , which is produced by the hybridoma cell line under Accession No. FERM BP-11264. 
     
     
         3 . The isolated anti-hepatitis C virus antibody according to  claim 1 , which is a humanized antibody. 
     
     
         4 . A hybridoma cell line, the Accession No. of which is FERM BP-11264. 
     
     
         5 . An inhibitory agent for infection with hepatitis C virus, which contains the isolated anti-hepatitis C virus antibody according to  claim 1  as an active ingredient.