Patent ID: 8088383

Claim:
A method for treating a patient with a disease comprising malignant B cells, said method comprising administering at least one therapeutically effective dose of a human anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody, an antigen-binding fragment of said antibody, or a conjugated form of said antibody or said antigen-binding fragment to said patient, wherein said anti-CD40 antibody or antigen-binding fragment, or conjugated form thereof, exhibits antagonist activity when said antibody or antigen-binding fragment, or conjugated form thereof, binds a CD40 antigen on a malignant human B cell, wherein said human anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody is selected from the group consisting of: a) a monoclonal antibody comprising a light chain variable region having the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:2; b) a monoclonal antibody comprising a heavy chain variable region having the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4; c) a monoclonal antibody having a light chain variable region having the amino acid sequence encoded by the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:1; d) a monoclonal antibody having a heavy chain variable region having the amino acid sequence encoded by the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:3; and e) a monoclonal antibody that comprises the complementarity determining regions (CDRs) of the monoclonal antibody produced by the hybridoma cell line 15B8 (Patent Deposit Designation PTA-3814); wherein said antigen-binding fragment of said antibody retains the capability of specifically binding to human CD40, and wherein said therapeutically effective dose of said human anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody or antigen-binding fragment, or conjugated form thereof, is in the range from about 0.01 mg/kg to about 40 mg/kg, whereby said disease is treated.