WO2015147611A1

WO2015147611A1 - Influenza a virus-specific monoclonal antibody and method for treating and diagnosing influenza infection using the same

Info

Publication number: WO2015147611A1
Application number: PCT/KR2015/003107
Authority: WO
Inventors: Woo-Sung Jung; Jung-Seob Kim; Ki Hwan Chang; Soo In Kim; Misuk KIM; Se-Ho Kim; Young Mi Lee
Original assignee: Green Cross Medical Science
Priority date: 2014-03-28
Filing date: 2015-03-30
Publication date: 2015-10-01
Also published as: KR20150112584A; KR101628331B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to an influenza A virus-specific monoclonal antibody and a method for treating and diagnosing an influenza infection using the same, and more specifically, an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody and a method for treating and diagnosing an influenza A virus infection using the antibody, wherein the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody may have high affinity with HA antigen to thereby be utilized as a composition for treating or diagnosing an influenza A virus, and since an amount of the antibody to be used at the time of performing ELISA for detecting or quantifying the HA antigen is small, the cost may be decreased as compared to the existing SRID method, and therefore, the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody according to the present invention may be utilized for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method for quantifying the influenza HA antigen to substitute for the existing SRID method or to combine with the existing SRID method.

Description

INFLUENZA A VIRUS-SPECIFIC MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY AND METHOD FOR TREATING AND DIAGNOSING INFLUENZA INFECTION USING THE SAME

The present invention relates to an influenza A virus-specific monoclonal antibody and a method for treating and diagnosing an influenza infection using the same, and more specifically, to an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody and a method for treating and diagnosing an influenza A virus infection using the antibody.

An influenza virus is RNA enveloped virus having a particle diameter of about 125nm. The virus basically consists of a lipid bilayer structure and ribonucleic acid (RNA) core combined with an inner nucleocapsid or nucleoprotein surrounded with a virus envelope having outer glycoprotein. An inner layer of the virus envelope mainly consists of matrix protein, and an outer layer mainly consists of a host-derived lipid material.

It is known that the influenza virus is a highly developed polymorphic particle consisting of two surface glycoproteins which are hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), wherein the hemagglutinin (HA) mediates an attachment to a host cell of the virus and a fusion of virus-cell membrane during penetration of the virus into the cell, and the surface protein, in particular, hemagglutinin determines antigen specificity of an influenza sub-type.

The influenza virus is classified into an A type, a B type, and a C type based on difference of an antigen. The A type influenza infects birds and pigs as well as human. The C type influenza causes a slight illness to human. The influenza A virus is described by nomenclature a including subtype or type, a geographic origin, a strain number and an isolation year, for example, A/Beijing/353/89. In addition, the A type influenza determines a subtype according to surface antigens which are a hemagglutinin (H) antigen and a neuraminidase (N) antigen. As the H antigen, H1-H16 is known so far, and as the N antigen, N1-N9 is known so far. A gene of the A type influenza consists of 8 gene fragments, and therefore, gene recombination may occur. It is known that all subtypes are found in birds; however, H1-H3 and N1-N2 are found from human, pigs, and horses (Murphy and Webster, Orthomyxoviruses. Fields, B. N. And D. M. Knipe (ed.). Fields Virology, Second Edition, 2:1091, 1990).

The avian influenza virus or the swine influenza virus is not capable of easily infecting human, which is because there is a barrier between species. However, infectious diseases over the barrier between species uncommonly occur, for example, an infection case caused by the swine influenza (H1N1) occurred in 1976 in New Jersey, U. S. A. There were all 13 infected patients, and among them, one was died. In 1997 in Hongkong, an infectious disease caused by the avian influenza H5N1 occurred, and the infection caused by the H5N1 influenza virus occurs sporadically up to date.

Meanwhile, a novel swine-origin influenza A is also referred to as a swine flue as an abbreviation, and at first, it was referred to as a ‘swine influenza (swine flu)', but there was no evidence that pigs are related with the flu, and then it is unified to be ‘novel influenza A’ which is an official name of the World Health Organization (WHO).

As a result of molecular biological research, it was found that the novel influenza A virus is formed by recombination of four kinds of influenza virus genes. The four kinds of influenza viruses are North American swine influenza virus, North American avian influenza virus, human influenza virus, and Eurasian swine influenza virus, respectively. A propagation path of the virus has not been clearly revealed yet, however, it is known that a droplet infection similar to the existing seasonal influenza virus, that is, a person-to-person propagation through coughing or sneezing of an infected people which is propagated in close contacts with the infected people (within about 2m), is a common case. Since the virus is not propagated by foods, an infection is not possible only by an intake of pork or pork processed goods, and when the pork is heated and cooked over 70℃, the virus is dead.

Currently, a diagnosis of the infection by the A type influenza virus is performed by an isolation and identification method of virus, a viral nucleic acid detection method, and the like. For example, the isolation and identification method of the A type influenza virus is performed by a method for inoculating a patient sample to a Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell to confirm a virus having hemagglutination capacity, and the viral nucleic acid detection method is performed by real time-PCR, RT-PCR, for rapid and accurate diagnosis to rapidly treat patients infected by the virus.

In addition, a single radial immuno diffusion (SRID) which is a currently used influenza vaccine antigen content test has disadvantages in that it is labor-intensive and time-consumable, and concentration is inevitable for measuring hemagglutinin (HA) of a cell culture supernatant, such that sensitivity is decreased, and the number of samples capable of being measured at a time is no more than the maximum of 10, and a required time (two days) is long. In addition, since the cost of standard antigen and standard antibody to be used is high, a diagnosis cost is increased, and in a non-purified sample, accuracy is not high.

Accordingly, the present inventors made an effort to solve the above-described problems and develop a method for effectively treating and diagnosing an influenza A virus infection, and as a result, screened an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody from an antibody obtained by immunizing the novel influenza antigen, and confirmed that at the time of using the screened antibody, an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen can be effectively detected or quantified as compared to the existing SRID method to complete the present invention.

An object of the present invention is to provide an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody and a method for treating and diagnosing an influenza A virus infection using the antibody.

In order to achieve the foregoing objects, the present invention provides an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody comprising any one of the following heavy chain variable region and light chain variable region:

(a) (i) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 2, a CDR2 region (GILGGGERSYYNDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 3, and a CDR3 region (HGSSGYVDYGMDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 4;

(ii) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 10, a CDR2 region (GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 11, and a CDR3 region (HSWGAYVQYGMDV) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 12;

(iii) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (LTKYKMT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 20, a CDR2 region (SISSTSRDVDYADSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 21, and a CDR3 region (DGWLWGWDVRSNYYYNALDV) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 22;

(iv) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 24, a CDR2 region (GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 25, and a CDR3 region (HGSPGYTLYAWDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 26;

(v) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (LTSYGVH) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 28, a CDR2 region (VIWTDGSTTYNSALKS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 29, and a CDR3 region (QDRYDGGIAY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 30;

(vi) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (LYDIH) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 32, a CDR2 region (WIDTGNGDIKYSQKFQD) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 33, and a CDR3 region (DNWGSRIDYFDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 34; and

(b) a light chain variable region including a CDR1 region (RASQGIGDNLG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 6, a CDR2 region (GVSTLDS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 7, and a CDR3 region (LQHSNYPMYT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 8; or

a light chain variable region including a CDR1 region (RASESVSNYGINFIN) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 14, a CDR2 region (TASNKGT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 15, and a CDR3 region (QQTKEVPYT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 16.

In addition, the present invention provides a gene encoding the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody as described above.

Further, the present invention provides a recombinant vector including the gene as described above, a recombinant cell in which the gene or the recombinant vector as described above is introduced into a host microorganism, and a method for producing the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody including culturing the recombinant cell as described above.

The present invention provides a composition for treating or diagnosing an influenza A virus infection, including the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody as described above.

In addition, the present invention provides a method for detecting or quantifying an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen including using the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody as described above.

Further, the present invention provides a kit for detecting or quantifying an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen including the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody as described above.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for performing primary and secondary screening processes and ELISA of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a data confirming affinity of antibody of the present invention to a cell culture supernatant obtained by infecting three kinds of H1N1 viruses, and a linearity accordingly.

FIG. 3 illustrates specificity of SF587 antibody and SF757 antibody to HA.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used in the present specification have the same meanings as being generally appreciated by those skilled in the art to which the present invention having high specificity to an influenza A virus (HA). Generally, the nomenclature used herein are well known and commonly employed in the art.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the present invention relates to an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (hereinafter, referred to as 'HA')-specific monoclonal antibody having any one of the following heavy chain variable region and light chain variable region:

(a) (i) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, a CDR2 region (GILGGGERSYYNDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:3, and a CDR3 region (HGSSGYVDYGMDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:4,

(ii) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 10, a CDR2 region (GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 11, and a CDR3 region (HSWGAYVQYGMDV) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 12,

(iii) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (LTKYKMT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 20, a CDR2 region (SISSTSRDVDYADSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 21, and a CDR3 region (DGWLWGWDVRSNYYYNALDV) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 22,

(iv) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 24, a CDR2 region (GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 25, and a CDR3 region (HGSPGYTLYAWDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 26,

In the present invention, the monoclonal antibody includes the heavy chain variable region including one amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs. 1, 9, 19, 23, 27 and 31 and the light chain variable region including one amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 5 or 13.

The influenza A virus HA-specific antibody may further include a constant region in addition to the variable region, and it is obvious to a person skilled in the art that this description is included in the scope of the present invention.

In the present invention, the influenza A virus (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody may have high affinity and specificity to HA1, preferably, may be specific to an H1N1 type of the influenza A virus HA.

“Hemagglutinin or HA" of the present invention represents an envelope glycoprotein of influenza virus. The HA mediates adsorption and penetration of the influenza virus to a host cell. 16 kinds of subtypes thereof have been reported up to date.

The “monoclonal antibody” of the present invention refers to a monoclonal antibody or a single clonal antibody and is produced by a cell forming a single antibody, has a uniform primary structure (amino acid arrangement). The monoclonal antibody recognizes only one epitope, and is generally produced by culturing hybridoma cell in which a cancer cell and an antibody production cell are fused with each other, and may be produced by using other recombinant protein expression host cells having secured antibody gene sequence.

As the “antibody”, a fragment of an antibody molecule as well as a complete form including two light chains having the entire length and two heavy chains having the entire length may be used. The fragment of the antibody molecule means a fragment necessarily possessing an antigen binding function and includes a single-chain Fv(scFv), Fab, F(ab'), F(ab')2, a single domain, and the like.

The “antigen” of the present invention is a molecule possessing a part which binds to the antibody, and the antigen molecule has a three-dimensional molecular structure determining antigen specificity, and reacts with the corresponding antibody, wherein the structural part refers to an epitope.

The “Fab fragment” of the present invention is one of a fragment obtained by treating or degrading the antibody with papain which is protease under condition that a low concentration of reducing agent is present, and is an antibody fragment including an antigen-binding domain and a portion of heavy chain which is bridged by a light chain and a disulfide bond, and Fab fragments do not have disulfide bond(s) between H chains present in a F(ab')2 fragment.

A term: “antigen-binding portion” of the antibody (or simply ‘antibody portion’) means one or more fragments of the antibody having a binding capacity to be specifically bound to the antigen. The antigen-binding function of the antibody may be performed by a full-length antibody fragment. Examples of binding fragments included in the term: ‘antigen-binding portion’ of the antibody may include (i) a Fab fragment which is a monovalent fragment consisting of VL, VH, CL and CH1 domains; (ii) a F(ab') 2 fragment which is a divalent fragment including two Fab fragments linked by a disulfide bond in a hinge region; (iii) a Fd fragment consisting of VH and CH1 domains; (iv) a Fv fragment consisting of VL and VH domains of antibody single arm; (v) a dAb fragment consisting of VH domain (Ward et al, Nature 341:544, 1989); and (vi) an isolated complementarity determining region (CDR).

The ‘SRID’ of the present invention is a method for quantifying concentration of a material to be tested by a diameter of a sedimentation line created by a sedimentation reaction in a gel by putting a test target material on immunodiffusion plate using the gel including an antibody or an antigen when measuring any specific amount of the corresponding antigen or the corresponding antibody value.

In another general aspect, the present invention relates to a gene encoding the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody.

In still another general aspect, the present invention relates to a recombinant vector including the gene as described above, a recombinant cell in which the gene or the recombinant vector is introduced into a host cell, the recombinant cell having an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody production capacity.

In the present invention, the ‘vector’ means a DNA construct including DNA sequences operably linked to an appropriate regulatory sequence capable of expressing DNA in an appropriate host. The vector may be a plasmid, phage particles, or simply be a potential genomic insert. When the vector is transformed in the appropriate host, the vector may replicate and function regardless of the host genome, or in some cases, may be incorporated with the genome itself. The plasmid is the most generally used form of the vector at present, such that the ‘plasmid' and the ‘vector’ of the present specification are sometimes interchangeably used. In view of purpose of the present invention, it is preferable to use a plasmid vector. Typical plasmid vector which is usable for the purpose has a structure including (a) a replication origin for effective replication so as to include hundreds of plasmid vectors per a host cell, (b) an antibiotic resistance gene capable of screening the host cell transformed into the plasmid vector, and (c) a restriction enzyme cleavage site capable of inserting a foreign DNA segment. Even though an appropriate restriction enzyme cleavage site does not exist, ligation between the vector and the foreign DNA may be easily obtained by using a synthetic oligonucleotide adaptor or a linker according to a general method.

The recombinant cell according to the present invention may be constructed by inserting the gene into chromosome of the host cell or introducing the recombinant vector into the plasmid of the host cell according to general methods.

In order to express the monoclonal antibody according to the present invention, various expression host/vector combinations may be used. Examples of an expression vector appropriate for an eukaryotic host include expression regulatory sequences derived from SV40, bovine papilloma virus, adenovirus, adeno-associated virus, cytomegalovirus, and retro virus, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The expression vector capable of being used in a bacterial host cell includes bacterial plasmids obtained from escherichia coli, such as pET, pRSET, pBluescript, pGEX2T, pUC vector, col E1, pCR1, pBR322, pMB9, and derivatives thereof, plasmid having a larger range of host cells, such as RP4, phage DNA including significantly various phage lambda derivatives such as gt10, gt11, and NM989, and other DNA phages such as M13 and filamentous single strand DNA phage. An expression vector useful for a yeast cell is 2 plasmid and derivatives thereof. A vector useful for an insect cell is pVL941.

After the recombinant vector of the present invention is transformed into appropriate host cells, for example, a yeast cell, an animal cell, and the like, the transformed host cell is cultured, such that a human antibody of the present invention or a fragment thereof may be mass-produced.

Appropriate host cells of the vector may include a prokaryotic cell such as Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Streptomyces sp., Pseudomonas sp., Proteus mirabilis or Staphylococcus sp. In addition, the host cell may be an eukaryotic cell including fungi such as Aspergillus sp., yeast such as Pichia pastoris, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces sp. and Neurospora crassa, and other lower eukaryotic cells and higher eukaryotic cells from an insect. In addition, the host cell may be derived from plants and mammals. Preferably, a monkey kidney cell 7 (COS7), an NSO cell, SP2/0, a chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell, W138, a baby hamster kidney (BHK) cell, MDCK, myeloma cell line, HuT 78 cell and HEK293 cell, and the like, are available, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

As a transformation method by introducing the recombinant vector of the present invention into the host cell, a generally known genetic manipulation method may be used. For example, as a physical method, a DNA delivery method using microinjection (direct injection of DNA into a cell), liposome, directed DNA uptake, receptor-mediated DNA transfer or Ca⁺⁺may be used, and recently, a gene delivery method using virus is largely used. As an example, there are methods of using a retrovirus vector, an adenovirus vector, an adeno-associated virus vector, a herpes simplex virus vector, a poxvirus vector, a lentivirus vector, and the like, and in particular, the retrovirus has a high efficiency of gene delivery, and may be used in a wide range of cells without gross deletion or combination by rearrangement with a host DNA (which is to change a similar portion to its own DNA in the host DNA, thereby causing a change in a host DNA function).

The nucleic acid is 'operably linked’ when being disposed with other nucleic acid sequences in a functional relationship. It may be gene and regulatory sequence(s) linked in the manner of enabling gene expression at the time of binding appropriate molecules (for example, transcriptional activation protein) to the regulatory sequence(s). For example, DNA to a pre-sequence or a secretion leader is operably linked to DNA to polypeptide when being expressed as a pre-protein participating in secretion of polypeptide, a promoter or an enhancer is operably linked to a coding sequence when having an influence on transcription of sequence; or a ribosome binding site is operably linked to a coding sequence when having an influence on transcription of sequence; or a ribosome binding site is operably linked to a coding sequence when being disposed so that translation is easily performed. In general, term: ‘being operably linked’ means being contacted with the linked DNA sequence, or being contacted with the secretion leader and then being present within a leading frame. However, the enhancer does not need to have a contact. The link of the sequences is performed by ligation (linkage) in a convenient restriction enzyme site. When the site is not present, a synthetic oligonucleotide adaptor or a linker according to general method is used.

In another general aspect, the present invention provides a method for producing the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody including (a) culturing the recombinant cell having the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody production capacity to produce the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody; and (b) recovering the produced influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody.

The influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody is preferably obtained by expression and purification according to a gene recombination method, specifically, the gene sequence encoding the heavy chain variable region or the entire heavy chain region of the antibody and the gene sequence encoding the light chain variable region or the entire light chain region may be expressed in one vector or two vectors, respectively, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

Specifically, the method for producing the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody may include inserting a gene encoding the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody of the present invention into a vector to produce a recombinant vector; transforming the recombinant vector into a host cell and culturing a transformant; and isolating and purifying the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody from the cultured transformant.

More specifically, the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody may be mass-produced by culturing the transformant having expressed recombinant vector in a nutrient medium, wherein medium and incubation condition may be appropriately selected depending on a host cell. Conditions such as temperature, pH of medium, incubation time, and the like, may be appropriately controlled so as to be appropriate for growth and development of cells and mass-production of protein at the time of culturing.

Recombinantly-produced peptide or protein as described above may be recovered from medium or cell degradation. In the case of a membrane-coupled type, the membrane may be isolated by using an appropriate surfactant solution (for example: tritone-X 100) or enzymatic cleavage.

Cells used in antibody expression may be destroyed by various physical or chemical means such as freeze-thaw purification, sonic treatment, mechanical damage and cell decomposing agent, and may be isolated and purified by general biochemical isolation technology (Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A laborarory Manual, 2nd Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press(1989); Deuscher, M., Guide to Protein Purification Methods Enzymology, Vol. 182. Academic Press. Inc., San Diego, CA(1990)). Electrophoresis, centrifugation, gel filtration, precipitation, dialysis, chromatography (ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography, immunosorbent chromatography, size exclusion chromatography, and the like), isoelectric focusing, and various changes and complex methods are available, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

Any processes for culturing and recovering the recombinant cell for producing the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody of the present invention are available without specific limitation as long as it is a generally known culturing method or an isolation and purification method of the recombinant protein in the art.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in order to screen the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody, an antibody pool obtained by immunity of the novel influenza antigen in 2009 was produced, and an antibody having affinity with the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) was screened from the antibody pool. As a result obtained by performing ELISA using a standard antibody for SRID and a culture supernatant obtained from an infection of an influenza virus (A/Brisbane/59/2007(IVR-148)) which is a subtype of H1N1, 9 kinds of antibodies having affinity with IVR-148 virus were primarily screened (Table 1).

In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the 9 kinds of primarily screened antibodies were secondarily screened, and conducted an affinity test with respect to the culture supernatant infected by H1N1 subtype three kinds viruses A/New Caledonia/20/1999(IVR-116), A/Brisbane/59/2007(IVR-148), and A/Solomon Islands/3/2006(IVR-145) in production cell lines and standard antigen (for SRID) for viruses so as to establish ELISA conditions, and it was confirmed that primarily screened antibodies of Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 in Table 1 had higher affinity than that of a commercialized antibody which is a control group (Tables 2 and 3).

In addition, as a result obtained by confirming linearity of the antibodies of Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 with respect to the culture supernatants of the H1N1 subtype three kinds of viruses, it was confirmed that the antibody of No. 3 had a uniformly high linearity (R2≥0.98) (FIG. 2), and as a confirmation result of HA concentration conversion, SRID measurement values and conformity, the closest conformity was confirmed in a case of using the antibody of No. 3 (SF757) as a detection antibody in consideration of SRID confidence interval (80 to 125%) (Table 4).

As a confirmation result of affinity using viruses shown in Table 5 in order to confirm specificity of the antibodies of Nos. 2 and 3 to hemagglutinin (HA) which is a surface glycoprotein of the influenza virus, it was confirmed that the primarily screened antibody specifically recognizes the novel influenza vaccine, H1-55 and H1-85 (FIG. 3).

In the present invention, amino acid sequences with respect to the light chain variable region and the heavy chain variable region of the antibodies of No. 2 (SF587) and No. 3(SF757) and nucleotide sequences with respect to the light chain variable region were analyzed (Tables 6 and 7), and it was confirmed that SF587 consists of a heavy chain variable region represented by amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 1 and a light chain variable region represented by amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 5, and it was analyzed that the heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 1 includes a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 2, a CDR2 region (GILGGGERSYYNDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 3, and a CDR3 region (HGSSGYVDYGMDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 4, and the light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 5 includes a CDR1 region (RASQGIGDNLG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 6, a CDR2 region (GVSTLDS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 7, a CDR3 region (LQHSNYPMYT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 8.

In addition, it was confirmed that SF757 consists of a heavy chain variable region represented by an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 9 and a light chain variable region represented by an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 13, and it was analyzed that the heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 9 includes a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 10, a CDR2 region (GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 11, and a CDR3 region (HSWGAYVQYGMDV) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 12, and the light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 13 includes a CDR1 region (RASESVSNYGINFIN) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 14, a CDR2 region (TASNKGT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 15, and a CDR3 region (QQTKEVPYT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 16.

In the present invention, heavy chain variable regions having amino acid sequences of SEQ ID Nos. 19 23, 27 and 31 shown in Table 8 were obtained by inducing amino acids mutation based on the amino acid sequence of the heavy chain variable region of SF587 and SF757, and it was confirmed that an antibody having a combination of the heavy chain variable regions and a light chain variable region having amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 5 or NO. 13 shown in Table 6 had affinity and specificity to the influenza A virus HA at a similar level to SF587 and SF757 antibodies.

As an analysis result of CDR of the amino acid sequences of the mutated heavy chain variable region, it was analyzed that the heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 19 includes a CDR1 region (LTKYKMT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 20, a CDR2 region (SISSTSRDVDYADSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 21, and a CDR3 region (DGWLWGWDVRSNYYYNALDV) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 22, and the heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 23 includes a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 24, a CDR2 region (GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 25, and a CDR3 region (HGSPGYTLYAWDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 26.

In addition, it was analyzed that the heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 27 includes a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (LTSYGVH) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 28, a CDR2 region (VIWTDGSTTYNSALKS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 29, and a CDR3 region (QDRYDGGIAY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 30, and the heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 31 includes a CDR1 region (LYDIH) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 32, a CDR2 region (WIDTGNGDIKYSQKFQD) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 33, and a CDR3 region (DNWGSRIDYFDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 34.

That is, it is considered that 12 kinds of antibodies obtained by combinations of the heavy chain variable regions including one amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs. 1, 9, 19, 23, 27 and 31 and the light chain variable region including one amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 5 or 13 have high specificity to the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA).

In another aspect, the present invention provides a composition for treating or diagnosing an influenza A virus infection, including the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody.

“Diagnosis” of the present invention means all behaviors confirming the presence or the characteristic of pathological conditions. For purposes of the present invention, the diagnosis may be interpreted as all behaviors confirming a possibility of developing influenza A virus infectious diseases, but the present invention is not specifically limited thereto.

The “composition for diagnosis” of the present invention means a main material used for diagnosis of target diseases, and may include materials for diagnosing the influenza A virus according to purposes of the present invention. The diagnosis method may include contact of the antibody or the antibody fragment with samples. Examples of the sample may include tissue samples obtained from nostrils, sinus cavity, salivary glands, lungs, liver, pancreas, kidney, ear, eye, placenta, gastrointestinal tract, heart, ovary, pituitary, adrenal, thyroid, brain, or skin. The diagnosis method may also include detection of an antigen/antibody complex.

The present invention provides a method for treating a subject, including injecting the antibody of the present invention for treating the influenza A virus infection, and the influenza A virus infection of the subject is decreased by the method of the present invention. In addition, the method of the present invention prevents the influenza A virus infection of the subject, and decreases or delays a risk of the influenza A virus infection.

The “composition for treatment" in the present invention may contain a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier which allows administration. The carrier should not lead a production of antibodies harmful to the individuals receiving the composition itself, and should not be toxic. Suitable carriers may include large and slowly metabolized macromolecules, for example, proteins, polypeptides, liposomes, polysaccharides, polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid, polymeric amino acids, amino acid copolymers and inactive virus particles.

Pharmaceutically acceptable salts may be, for example, inorganic acid salts such as hydrochloride, hydrobromide, phosphate and sulfate, or organic acid salts such as acetate, propionate, malonate and benzoate. The pharmaceutically acceptable carrier in the composition for treatment may further contain liquid such as water, saline, glycerol and ethanol. In addition, an auxiliary agent such as a wetting agent, an emulsifying agent or pH buffer may be present in the composition. The carrier may be formulated as tablets, pills, dragees, capsules, liquids, gels, syrups, slurries, and suspension so that the pharmaceutical composition is ingested to the subject.

Within the scope of the present invention, a form suitable for administration or parenteral administration may include, for example, injection or infusion such as bolus injection or continuous infusion. If a product is for injection or infusion, the product may have oily or aqueous vehicle suspension, solution, or emulsion form, and may contain formulation preparation such as suspending agents, preservatives, stabilizing agents and/or dispersing agents. Alternatively, antibody molecules may be dried for reconstitution prior to use with an appropriate sterile liquid. Once formulated, the composition of the present invention may be administered directly to the subject. In one specific example, the composition is adapted for administration to human subjects.

The composition for treatment of the present invention may be administered by any routes such as oral, intravenous, intramuscular, intraarterial, medulla, intraperitoneal, medullary cavity, intraventricular, transdermal, dermal, topical, subcutaneous, intranasal, enteral, sublingual, vaginal or rectal routes, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Hypospray may also be used for administration of the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention. Typically, the composition for treatment may be prepared as an injectable material, for example, a liquid solution or suspension. A solution in injection liquid vehicle or a solid form appropriate for suspension may also be prepared.

In general, the composition may be directly delivered to a space between cells of tissue by injection, subcutaneous, intraperitoneal, intravenous, or intramuscular route. In addition, the composition may be administered to lesion. The dosage treatment may be performed by a single dose schedule or a multiple dose schedule. Known antibody mechanism of action provides a guideline of administration frequency as to whether pharmaceutical needs to be administered daily, weekly, monthly, and the like. The frequency and dosage will be dependent upon the severity of the symptoms.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for detecting or quantifying an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen by using the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody of the present invention. The detection or quantification method of the present invention includes autoradiography, fluorescence microscopy, direct and indirect enzymatic reactions, and the like, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The generally used detection analysis method includes a radioactive isotope or non-radioactive isotope method. Among these methods, there are western blotting, overlay-analysis, radioimmuno assay (RIA), an immune radioimmunometric assay (IRMA), an enzyme immuno assay (EIA), an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), fluorescent immuno assay (FIA), chemioluminescent immune assay (CLIA), and the like.

In the present invention, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (an enzyme-linked immunospecific assay) (ELISA) is preferably used, and the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific antibody of the present invention may be used as a capture antibody or a detection antibody. In the above-described method, the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody of the present invention may be used as the capture antibody, a standard antibody for SRID for each virus may be used as the detection antibody, or the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody of the present invention may be used as both of the capture antibody and the detection antibody as needed, and it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that these methods are also included in the scope of the present invention.

Specifically, the method may be performed by including (a) a step of fixing the influenza A virus HA-specific monoclonal antibody of the present invention to an ELISA measurement plate by the capture antibody; (b) a step of treating a cell culture supernatant infected by the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen or the influenza A virus in the ELISA measurement plate of step (a) above and treating the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody with the detection antibody; and (c) a step of measuring absorbance by treating a tracer antibody and detecting or quantifying the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen, or may be performed by including (a) a step of fixing the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody to an ELISA measurement plate by the capture antibody; (b) a step of treating a cell culture supernatant infected by the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen or the influenza A virus in the ELISA measurement plate of step (a) above and treating the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific antibody with the detection antibody; and (c) a step of measuring absorbance by treating a tracer antibody and detecting or quantifying the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen.

In the present invention, the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody may be a general standard antibody for SRID known in the art, and the detection antibody in the step (b) may be treated at a concentration of 0.5 to 5 ㎍/㎖, preferably, 1 ㎍/㎖.

In the present invention, the tracer antibody of the step (c) may be Goat anti-mouse IgG-HRP, but any antibody capable of recognizing the detection antibody may be used without limitation, and may be bound with a labeled marker for detecting or quantifying the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen.

The labeled marker is preferably a general coloring agent for coloring reaction, and horseradish peroxidase (HRP), alkaline phosphatase, colloidal gold, fluorescein, dye, and the like, may be used as the marker. A chromogenic substrate for inducing color development is preferably used according to the marker for coloring reaction, and 3,3',5,5'-tetramethyl bezidine (TMB), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), o-phenylenediamine (OPD), and the like, may be used as the chromogenic substrate.

In order to find an optimal antibody combination of a capture antibody and a detection antibody of ELISA in the present invention, ELISA was performed by combinations shown in Table 10, and as a result, it was determined that a combination of the antibody for SRID as the capture antibody and the antibody of No. 3 as the detection antibody was the most appropriate antibody combination in consideration that only the combination of the antibody of No. 3 and the antibody for SRID showed high linearity (R²≥0.97) (Tables 11 and 12) and results of Examples 1 and 2.

Based on the above results, according to the present invention, an antibody capable of more effectively quantifying the HA antigen as compared to the existing SRID method, by using the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody of the present invention was screened, and HA ELISA condition was established (Table 13).

The antibody screened in the present invention had an affinity showing high linearity with respect to the standard antigen (H1N1 type influenza virus HA protein), such that an amount of the used antibody is small during the HA ELISA, and the assay cost is reduced, and it was confirmed that the value of the present invention is the same as the measurement value of the SRID method. Therefore, the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody according to the present invention may be utilized for an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method for quantifying the influenza HA antigen to substitute for the existing SRID method or to combine with the existing SRID method, and the antibody screened in the present invention may be used for diagnosis of a H1N1 type influenza virus.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a kit for detecting or quantifying an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen including (i) the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody of the present invention, (ii) an ELISA measurement plate to which the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody is fixed, and (iii) a tracer antibody.

The kit of the present invention may include various buffers and reagents required for performing ELISA reaction, and a standard antibody for SRID known in the art may be generally used as the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody, and as the ELISA measurement plate to which the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody is fixed, the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody and the ELISA measurement plate may be provided, respectively.

In addition, an optimal amount of the reagent of the kit used in the specific reaction may be easily determined by a person skilled in the art acquiring disclosure of the present specification. Typically, the kit of the present invention is manufactured with a separate packaging or compartment including the above-described components.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following Examples. However, the following examples are only for exemplifying the present invention, and it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the scope of the present invention is not construed to be limited to these examples.

Example

Example 1

Primary Screening and Purification of Antibody for Detecting or Diagnosing Influenza A virus HA Antigen

In order to screen an antibody for detecting the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen, an antibody pool obtained by immunizing the novel influenza antigen in 2009 was produced by using a method for producing a fusion cell line known in the art (Kohler, G. and Milstein, C,. 1975; Kozbar et al. 1983). Briefly, 6-8 week-old mice were immunized by injection of the novel influenza virus into peritoneal cavity, and the spleen was extracted to prepare a single cell, followed by mixing with myeloma cells to produce a fusion cell line. From the produced fusion cell line (hybridoma), a fusion cell line producing a monoclonal antibody was produced by repeating cloning until stable monoclonal cell line was obtained, and an antibody having an affinity with the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) was screened from antibodies produced from the fusion cell line.

In order to primarily screening the antibody for detecting or diagnosing the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen, ELISA method shown in FIG. 1 was used, and the capture antibody was a standard antibody for SRID (A/Brisbane/59/2007 (IVR-148); NIBSC, Lot No.10/120), and the antigen was a sample supernatant prepared by infection of one kind of influenza virus (A/Brisbane/59/2007(IVR-148)) into MDCK cell.

Each antibody of the influenza antibody pool was treated in 96-well plate sequentially coated with the standard antibody for SRID and the culture supernatant infected by IVR-148 to primarily screen the antibodies having affinity with the IVR-148 virus, and each antibody was purified by IgG purification method known in the art in order to be used for the subsequent secondary screening and establishment of ELISA condition (Table 1).

Table 1

Primarily screened antibodies

name	Antibody No.	㎎/㎖
SF587
	2	3.9
SF757	3	6
SF1245	4	0.9
SF352	5	7
SF1761	6	1.3
SF1749	7	1.4
SF346	8	7
SF1289	9	1.6
SF715	10	0.5

(Hereinafter, Antibody Name is represented by Antibody No.)

Example 2

Secondary Screening of Antibody for Detecting or Diagnosing Influenza A virus HA Antigen

9 kinds of antibodies which were primarily screened in Example 1 were secondarily screened, and in order to establish ELISA condition, affinity tests with respect to the culture supernatant infected by H1N1 subtype three kinds of viruses: A/New Caledonia/20/1999(IVR-116), A/Brisbane/59/2007(IVR-148), and A/Solomon Islands/3/2006(IVR-145) into the production cell lines and the standard antigen (for SRID) for viruses were performed.

The used standard antigens above were A/Brisbane/59/2007 (IVR-148; NIBSC, Lot No. 08/100), A/New Caledonia/20/1999 (IVR-116; NIBSC, Lot No. 06/170), and A/Solomon Islands/3/2006 (IVR-145; NIBSC, Lot No. 07/102) commercially available from NIBSC Company, respectively, and the standard antibodies used as the capture antibodies in ELISA were A/Brisbane/59/2007 (IVR-148; NIBSC,Lot No. 10/120), A/New Caledonia/20/1999 (IVR-116; NIBSC, Lot No. 04/260), and A/Solomon Islands/3/2006 (IVR-145; NIBSC, Lot No. 07/104) commercially available from NIBSC Company, respectively.

2-1 : Affinity Test on Cell Culture Supernatant Infected by H1N1 subtype three kinds of viruses

In ELISA diagram of FIG. 1, the capture antibody was the standard antibody for SRID, wherein the used concentration was the same as a case when the SRID method is used. As the detection antibody, the primarily screened antibody in Example 1 was used at a concentration of 5㎍/㎖, and as a tracer, Goat anti-mouse IgG-HRP(KPL, Cat. No. 074-1806) was used at a concentration of 1:10000. In addition, as a control group, C102 which is a commercialized antibody for Western blot/ELISA (H1 (H1N1) monoclonal antibody, clone C102; Hytest, Cat. No. 3IH4) was used.

In the first test, the antibodies of Nos. 5, 8, 9 and 10 shown in Table 1 were excluded due to significantly low affinity, and affinity measurement results of the remaining antibodies of Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 were shown in Tables 2 and 3 below.

Table 2

Table 3

As a result obtained by using the standard antibody for SRID as the capture antibody and performing serial dilution of the virus culture supernatant and the standard antigen for SRID in order to establish the method for quantifying the influenza HA antigen to substitute for the existing SRID method or to combine with the existing SRID method, it was confirmed that high affinity was shown as compared to the commercialized antibody and there was difference in degrees of affinity for each antibody (Tables 2 and 3).

2-2 : Confirmation of Linearity with respect to Virus Culture Supernatant and Standard Antigen

In order to confirm linearity with respect to a cell culture supernatant which was cultured by infection of three kinds of H1N1 virus and a standard antigen, Example 2-2 was performed by the same measurement method as the ELISA method of Example 2-1, wherein the standard antibody for SRID which is the capture antibody had a concentration 0.5 times as the concentration used for the SRID method. As the detection antibody, the antibodies of Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 shown in Table 1 had a concentration of 1㎍/㎖, and the tracer had a concentration of 1:20000, for the measurement.

As the confirmation result of the serial dilution of the virus culture supernatant and the standard antigen for SRID, it was confirmed that the antibody of No. 3 had a uniformly high affinity and high linearity (R²≥0.98) with respect to each virus culture supernatant and the standard antigen (FIG. 2).

2-3 : Conversion of HA Concentration and Confirmation of correspondence with SRID Measurement Value

The three kinds H1N1 virus HA concentrations were converted and conformity with the SRID measurement values was confirmed based on results of Example 2-2.

Table 4

-ND (not detected); Unmesurable due to low affinity

-the antibody having a low affinity with respect to the virus culture supernatant is excluded from concentration conversion.

As a result obtained by comparing the SRID measurement value and the HA ELISA measurement value of each virus culture supernatant, the closest conformity was confirmed in a case of using the antibody of No. 3 (SF757) as a detection antibody in consideration of SRID confidence interval (80 to 125%) (Table 4).

Example 3

Confirmation of Specificity to Influenza A Virus Hemagglutinin (HA)

In order to confirm specificity to the hemagglutinin (HA) which was the influenza virus surface glycoprotein of the screened SF587 and SF757 antibodies, affinity was confirmed by using viruses shown in Table 5 below.

Table 5

As a result, it was confirmed that the primarily screened antibody specifically recognized novel influenza vaccine, H1-55 and H1-85 as shown in FIG. 3.

Example 4 Confirmation of Amino Acid Sequence of Antibody

In order to analyze amino acid sequences with respect to Fab fragment of the antibodies of Nos. 2 and 3 (SF587 and SF757) having high affinity with the influenza virus HA protein, the amino acid sequences of the light chain variable region and the heavy chain variable region of the antibodies of Nos. 2 and 3 purified by Example 2 were analyzed (Tables 6 and 7).

Table 6

AA sequences of SF587 and SF757 Ab

Ab		AA Sequences	SEQ ID No.
SF587	Hv	VQLQQSGGGVVQPGGSLRLSCAASGFTFSDYDMSWIRQAPGKGLEWVSGILGGGERSYYNDSVKGRFTISRDNSRKTLYLQMNSLRAEDTAVYYCARHGSSGYVDYGMDYWGQGTTVTVSS	1
	Lv	DIVLTQSPSFLSASVGDRVTITCRASQGIGDNLGWYQQKPGKAPKRLIYGVSTLDSGVPSRFSGSGSGTEFTLTINSLQPEDFATYYCLQHSNYPMYTFGQGTKLEIKR		3
SF757	Hv	VKLQESGGGVVQPGGSLRLSCAASGFTFSDYDMSWIRQAPGKGLEWVSGILGGSERSYYRDSVKGRSTISRDNSRKTLYLQMNSLRAEDTAVYYCARHSWGAYVQYGMDVWGQGTTVTVSS	9
	Lv	DIQMTQSPASLAVSPGQRATITCRASESVSNYGINFINWFQQKPGQPPKLLIYTASNKGTGVPARFSGSGSGTDFTLTINPVEAEDTANYFCQQTKEVPYTFGGGTKLEIKR	13

(The parts underlined and in bold refer to CDR regions.)

Table 7

Analysis on sequence of Lv

Ab	Sequences	SEQ ID No.
SF587Lv	tacgactcactatagggcgaattgggcccgacgtcgcatgctcccggccgccatggcggccgcgggaattcgattgacattgtgctgacccagtctccatccttcctgtctgcatctgtgggagacagagtcaccatcacttgccgggcaagtcagggcattggagataatttaggctggtatcaacagaaaccagggaaagcccctaagcgcctgatctatggtgtttctactttggatagtggcgtcccatcaaggttcagcggcagtggatctgggacagaattcactctcacaatcaacagcctgcagcctgaagattttgcaacttattactgtctacagcacagtaattaccctatgtacacttttggccagggcaccaagctggaaatcaaacggaatcactagtgaattcgcggccgcctgcaggtcgaccatatgggagagtccnacgcgtgagcag	17
SF757Lv	tgctcacgcgttnggagctctcccatatggtcgacctgcaggcggccgcgaattcactagtgattgacatccagatgacgcagtctccagcttctttggctgtgtctccagggcagagggccaccatcacctgcagagccagcgaaagtgttagtaattatggcattaactttattaactggttccaacagaaaccaggacagccacccaaactcctcatctatactgcatccaacaaaggaactggggtccctgccaggtttagtggcagtgggtctgggacagacttcaccctcacaatcaatcctgtggaggctgaggatactgcaaattatttctgtcagcaaactaaggaggttccgtacacgttcggaggggggaccaagctggaaataaaacggaatcgaattcccgcggccgccatggcggccgggagcatgcgacgtcgggcccaattcgccctatagtgagtcgtattacaa	18

It was confirmed that SF587 consists of a heavy chain variable region represented by amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 1 and a light chain variable region represented by amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 5, and it was analyzed that the heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 1 includes a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 2, a CDR2 region (GILGGGERSYYNDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 3, and a CDR3 region (HGSSGYVDYGMDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 4, and the light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 5 includes a CDR1 region (RASQGIGDNLG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 6, a CDR2 region (GVSTLDS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 7, a CDR3 region (LQHSNYPMYT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 8.

It was confirmed that SF757 consists of a heavy chain variable region represented by an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 9 and a light chain variable region represented by an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 13, and it was analyzed that the heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 9 includes a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 10, a CDR2 region (GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 11, and a CDR3 region (HSWGAYVQYGMDV) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 12, and the light chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 13 includes a CDR1 region (RASESVSNYGINFIN) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 14, a CDR2 region (TASNKGT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 15, and a CDR3 region (QQTKEVPYT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 16.

In order to confirm whether the specificity to the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) was maintained even in a case of the antibody obtained by mutation of amino acid sequences of SF587 and SF757 antibodies, the amino acid sequences of the heavy chain variable region and the light chain variable region were mutated by methods generally known in the art, and the HA-specific antibodies were screened by methods of Examples 1 to 3.

Table 8

(The parts underlined and in bold refer to CDR regions.)

As a result, it was confirmed that an antibody having a combination of the heavy chain variable region having the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs. 19, 23, 27 and 31 shown in Table 8 above and the light chain variable region having amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 5 or NO. 13 shown in Table 6 had affinity and specificity to the influenza A virus HA at a similar level to SF587 and SF757 antibodies.

It was analyzed that the heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 19 includes a CDR1 region (LTKYKMT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 20, a CDR2 region (SISSTSRDVDYADSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 21, and a CDR3 region (DGWLWGWDVRSNYYYNALDV) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 22, and the heavy chain variable region of SEQ ID NO. 23 includes a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 24, a CDR2 region (GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 25, and a CDR3 region (HGSPGYTLYAWDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 26.

CDR portions of the antibodies having high specificity to the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) were summarized for each heavy chain variable region and light chain variable region and shown in Table 9 below.

Table 9

CDR Regions of each Hv and Lv

Hv or Lv		CDR1	CDR2	CDR3
Hv	SF587 (SEQ ID NO. 1)	DYDMS (SEQ ID NO. 2)	GILGGGERSYYNDSVKG(SEQ ID NO. 3)	HGSSGYVDYGMDY(SEQ ID NO. 4)
	SF757 (SEQ ID NO. 9)	DYDMS(SEQ ID NO. 10)	GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG (SEQ ID NO. 11)	HSWGAYVQYGMDV(SEQ ID NO. 12)
	Variant 1(SEQ ID NO. 19)	LTKYKMT(SEQ ID NO. 20)	SISSTSRDVDYADSVKG(SEQ ID NO. 21)	DGWLWGWDVRSNYYYNALDV(SEQ ID NO. 22)
	Variant 2 (SEQ ID NO. 23)	DYDMS(SEQ ID NO. 24)	GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG(SEQ ID NO. 25)	HGSPGYTLYAWD(SEQ ID NO. 26)
	Variant 3(SEQ ID NO. 27)	LTSYGVH(SEQ ID NO. 28)	VIWTDGSTTYNSALKS(SEQ ID NO. 29)	QDRYDGGIAY(SEQ ID NO. 30)
	Variant 4(SEQ ID NO. 31)	LYDIH(SEQ ID NO. 32)	WIDTGNGDIKYSQKFQD(SEQ ID NO. 33)	DNWGSRIDYFDY(SEQ ID NO. 34)
Lv	SF587 (SEQ ID NO. 5)	RASQGIGDNLG (SEQ ID NO. 6)	GVSTLDS(SEQ ID NO. 7)	LQHSNYPMYT(SEQ ID NO. 8)
Lv	SF757(SEQ ID NO. 13)	RASESVSNYGINFIN(SEQ ID NO. 14)	TASNKGT(SEQ ID NO. 15)	QQTKEVPYT(SEQ ID NO. 16)

Example 5 Test on ELISA Antibody Combinations

In order to find an optimal antibody combination of a capture antibody and a detection antibody of ELISA, ELISA was performed by using four kinds of antibodies (#3, 4, 6, 7) having an affinity with each virus culture supernatant and five kinds of antibodies including the antibody for SRID for each virus. Conditions for the antibody combination were shown in Table 10, and experiments were performed under 16 conditions for the antibody combination with respect to each virus culture supernatant.

Table 10

Table 11

Table 12

As a result, it was confirmed that measurement values of other antibody combinations excluding the combination of antibody of No. 3 and the antibody for SRID indicate false-positive absorption without linearity, and even in a well in which the culture supernatant was not treated, high false-positive absorption was confirmed (Tables 11 and 12).

It was determined that the combination of the antibody for SRID used as the capture antibody and the antibody of No. 3 used as the detection antibody was the most appropriate antibody combination in consideration that only the combination of the antibody of No. 3 and the antibody for SRID showed high linearity (R²≥0.97) and results of Examples 1 and 2.

HA ELISA conditions were established based on the above results, and the results were shown in Table 12 below.

Table 13

In the present invention, through screening of the antibodies obtained by novel influenza (H1N1) antigen immunity, the antibody capable of more effectively quantifying the HA antigen as compared to the existing SRID method, from the culture medium samples produced by infecting H1N1 subtype viruses of the influenza A type was screened and HA ELISA condition was established.

The influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody according to the present invention may have high affinity with HA antigen to thereby be utilized as a composition for treating or diagnosing an influenza A virus. In addition, at the time of performing ELISA for detecting or quantifying the HA antigen, the virus may be quantified by using the antibody having high sensitivity to the antigen, and since an amount of the antibody to be used is small, the cost may be decreased as compared to the existing SRID method, and therefore, the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody according to the present invention may be utilized for a method for quantifying the influenza HA antigen to substitute for the existing SRID method or to combine with the existing SRID method.

The present invention has been described in detail based on particular features thereof, and it is obvious to those skilled in the art that these specific technologies are merely preferable embodiments and thus the scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. Therefore, the substantial scope of the present invention will be defined by the accompanying claims and their equivalents.

Attached file

Claims

A monoclonal antibody specific for an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) comprising any one of the following heavy chain variable region and/or light chain variable region:

(a) (i) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 2, a CDR2 region (GILGGGERSYYNDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 3, and a CDR3 region (HGSSGYVDYGMDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 4;

(ii) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 10, a CDR2 region (GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 11, and a CDR3 region (HSWGAYVQYGMDV) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 12;

(iii) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (LTKYKMT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 20, a CDR2 region (SISSTSRDVDYADSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 21, and a CDR3 region (DGWLWGWDVRSNYYYNALDV) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 22;

(iv) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (DYDMS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 24, a CDR2 region (GILGGSERSYYRDSVKG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 25, and a CDR3 region (HGSPGYTLYAWDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 26;

(v) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (LTSYGVH) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 28, a CDR2 region (VIWTDGSTTYNSALKS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 29, and a CDR3 region (QDRYDGGIAY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 30;

(vi) a heavy chain variable region including a CDR1 region (LYDIH) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 32, a CDR2 region (WIDTGNGDIKYSQKFQD) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 33, and a CDR3 region (DNWGSRIDYFDY) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 34; and

(b) a light chain variable region including a CDR1 region (RASQGIGDNLG) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 6, a CDR2 region (GVSTLDS) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 7, and a CDR3 region (LQHSNYPMYT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 8; and/or

a light chain variable region including a CDR1 region (RASESVSNYGINFIN) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 14, a CDR2 region (TASNKGT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 15, and a CDR3 region (QQTKEVPYT) consisting of an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 16.
The antibody according to claim 1, wherein the monoclonal antibody comprising the heavy chain variable region comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs. 1, 9, 19, 23, 27 and 31, and the light chain variable region comprising an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 5 or 13.
A gene encoding the monoclonal antibody according to claim 1 or 2.
A vector comprising the gene according to claim 3.
A recombinant cell having an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody production capacity, wherein the gene according to claim 3 or the vector comprising the gene is introduced into a host cell.
A method for producing a monoclonal antibody specific for influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)- comprising:

(a) culturing the recombinant cell having the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody production capacity according to claim 5 to produce the monoclonal antibody specific for influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA); and

(b) recovering the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA)-specific monoclonal antibody produced according to the step (a).
A composition for treating or diagnosing an influenza A virus infection comprising the monoclonal antibody specific for influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) according to claim 1 or 2.
A method for detecting or quantifying an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen, wherein the method comprising using the monoclonal antibody specific for influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) according to claim 1 or 2.
The method according to claim 8, wherein the detecting or quantifying is performed by ELISA(enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, enzyme-linked immunospecific assay).
The method according to claim 9, wherein the method comprising using the monoclonal antibody specific for influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) according to claim 1 or 2 as a the capture antibody or a detection antibody.
The method according to claim 10, wherein the monoclonal antibody specific for influenza A virus hemagglutinin is treated with a a concentration of 0.5 to 5 ㎍/㎖, provided that the antibody is used as a detection antibody.
A kit for detecting or quantifying an influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) antigen comprising the monoclonal antibody specific for influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) according to claim 1 or 2.
The kit according to claim 12, wherein the kit further comprising (i) an ELISA measurement plate to which the monoclonal antibody specific for influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) is fixed, and (ii) a tracer antibody.
The kit according to claim 12, wherein the tracer antibody is Goat anti-mouse IgG-HRP.