A monoclonal antibody or antigen binding portion that specifically binds to and activates human CD40

摘要

Disclosed are antibodies and antigen-binding portions thereof that specifically bind to CD40, preferably human CD40, and that function as CD40 agonists. Also disclosed are human anti-CD40 antibodies and antigen-binding portions thereof. The invention also relates to antibodies that are chimeric, bispecific, derivatized, single chain antibodies or portions of fusion proteins. Further disclosed are isolated heavy and light chain immunoglobulins derived from human anti-CD40 antibodies and nucleic acid molecules encoding such immunoglobulins. Also disclosed are methods of making human anti-CD40 antibodies, compositions comprising these antibodies and methods of using the antibodies and compositions for diagnosis and treatment. Further discosed are gene therapy methods using nucleic acid molecules encoding the heavy and/or light immunoglobulin molecules that comprise the human anti-CD40 antibodies. Lastly, disclosed are transgenic animals comprising nucleic acid molecules of the present invention.