Patent 7566450 was granted and assigned to Millennium Pharmaceuticals on July, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The present invention relates to a humanized antibody or functional fragment thereof which binds to a mammalian (e.g., human) CC-chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) or a portion of the receptor and blocks binding of a ligand to the receptor. The invention further relates to a method of inhibiting the interaction of a cell bearing mammalian CCR2 with a ligand thereof, and to use of the antibodies and fragments in therapeutic, prophylactic and diagnostic methods.