Antibodies against IL-1 beta

1. A humanized antibody against IL-1 beta comprising CDR-H1, CDR-H2 and CDR-H3 amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 4, 21, and 6, respectively, and wherein

a) position 24 of the heavy chain is an alanine residue (A):

b) position 25 of the heavy chain is a phenylalanine residue (F);

c) position 44 of the heavy chain is an isoleucine residue (I);

d) position 56 of the heavy chain is a serine residue (S);

e) position 82 of the heavy chain is a lysine residue (K);

f) position 86 of the heavy chain is an arginine residue (R); and/or

g) position 105 of the heavy chain is a phenylalanine residue (F); according to AHo numbering;

and comprising CDR-L1, CDR-L2 and CDR-L3 amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 1, 2 and 3, respectively, and wherein

h) position 1 of the light chain is an aspartic acid residue (D);

i) position 3 of the light chain is a glu1amine residue (Q);

j) position 20 of the light chain is a threonine residue (T);

k) position 99 of the light chain is a glutamic acid residue (E);

l) position 105 of the light chain is a phenylalanine residue (F);

m) position 146 of the light chain is a glutamic residue (E);

n) position 147 of the light chain is an isoleucine residue (I);

o) position 148 of the light chain is a lysine residue (K); and/or

p) position 149 of the light chain is an arginine residue (R), according to AHo numbering.

2. The antibody of claim 1 , wherein the heavy chain variable domain further comprises at least one of the following residues:

(i) Serine (S) at heavy chain amino acid position 12 (according to AHo numbering);

(ii) Serine (S) or Threonine (T) at heavy chain amino acid position 103 (according to AHo numbering); and/or

(iii) Serine (S) or Threonine (T) at heavy chain amino acid position 144 (according to AHo numbering).

3. The antibody of claim 1 , wherein the antibody is an antibody fragment.

4. The antibody of claim 3 , wherein the antibody fragment is a scFv fragment.

5. The antibody of claim 4 , further comprising the linker sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 14.

6. The antibody of claim 1 , wherein the antibody is a full-length immunoglobulin.

7. The antibody of claim 1 , having an IC 50 for human IL-1 beta of lower than 10 nM, wherein the IC 50 is determined by inhibiting the IL-1 beta induced release of IL-6 from human fibroblasts.

8. The antibody of claim 7 , wherein the IC 50 for human IL-1 beta is about 5 pM.

9. The antibody of claim 1 , wherein the antibody is monovalent.

10. The antibody of claim 1 , wherein the antibody is multivalent.

11. The antibody of claim 1 , wherein the antibody has a chemical or biological modification.

12. The antibody of claim 11 , wherein the antibody has a chemical or biological modification selected from the group consisting of selected from the group consisting of glycosylation, PEGylation, HESylation, albumin fusion, PASylation, labelling with a dye and/or radioisotope, conjugation with an enzyme and/or toxin, phosphorylation, hydroxylation, sulfation, and a combination thereof.

13. The antibody of claim 12 , wherein the antibody has a chemical or biological modification selected from the group consisting of glycosylation, PEGylation, and HESylation.

14. A pharmaceutical composition comprising the antibody of claim 1 and pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, diluent or excipient.

15. A humanized antibody against IL-1 beta comprising a light chain variable domain comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 8; and a heavy chain variable domain comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 12.

16. The antibody of claim 15 , further comprising the linker sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 14.

17. The antibody of claim 15 , wherein the antibody is an antibody fragment.

18. The antibody of claim 17 , wherein the antibody fragment is selected from the group consisting of a Fab, a Fab′, a F(ab)′2, a scFv, and a Fv fragment.

19. The antibody of claim 18 , wherein the antibody fragment is a scFv fragment.

20. The antibody of claim 19 , further comprising the linker sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 14.

21. The antibody of claim 15 , wherein the antibody is a full-length immunoglobulin.

22. The antibody of claim 15 , having an IC 50 for human IL-1 beta of lower than 10 nM, wherein the IC 50 is determined by inhibiting the IL-1 beta induced release of IL-6 from human fibroblasts.

23. The antibody of claim 22 , wherein the IC 50 for human IL-1 beta is about 5 pM.

24. The antibody of claim 15 , wherein the antibody is monovalent or multivalent.

25. The antibody of claim 15 , wherein the antibody is multivalent.

26. The antibody of claim 15 , wherein the antibody has a chemical or biological modification.

27. The antibody of claim 26 , wherein the chemical or biological modification is selected from the group consisting of glycosylation, PEGylation, HESylation, albumin fusion, PASylation, labelling with a dye and/or radioisotope, conjugation with an enzyme and/or toxin, phosphorylation, hydroxylation, sulfation, and a combination thereof.

28. The antibody of claim 27 , wherein the antibody has a chemical or biological modification selected from the group consisting of glycosylation, PEGylation, and HESylation.

29. A composition comprising the antibody of claim 15 , and further comprising a suitable carrier, diluent or excipient.

30. The composition of claim 29 , wherein the composition is a cosmetic, a diagnostic or a pharmaceutical composition.

31. The composition of claim 30 , wherein the composition is a pharmaceutical composition and the carrier is a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, diluent or excipient.

32. The composition of claim 31 , wherein the composition is in a form suitable for parenteral, oral, rectal, urogenital, topical, intravitreal, intraocular, otic, intranasal, dermal, sublingual, or buccal administration.

33. A kit comprising the antibody of claim 15 , assay reagents, and instructions.

34. A humanized antibody against IL-1 beta, having the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 19.