| abstract |
The present invention re-lates to amino acid sequences that are di-rected against/and or that can specifically bind Snterleukin-6 Receptor (IL-6R) with improved affinity and/or avidity, and/or that have an improved efficacy and/or po-tency, and which are capable of (partially, or preferably totally) blocking the IL-6/IL-6R interaction and/or inhibit sig-nalization through IL-6, 1L-6R and/or the IL-6/IL-6R complex. The invention further relates to compounds or constructs, and in particular proteins and polypeptides, that comprise or essentially consist of one or more such amino acid sequences. The in-vention also relates to nucleic acids encoding such amino acid sequences and polypeptides, to methods for preparing such amino acid sequences and polypep-tides, to host ceils expressing or capable of expressing such amino acid sequences or polypeptides, to compositions, and in par-ticular to pharmaceutical compositions, that comprise such amino acid sequences, polypeptides, nucieic acids and/or host cells, and to uses of such amino acid se-quences or polypeptides, nucleic acids, host cells and/or compositions, in particular for prophylactic, therapeutic or diagnostic purposes. |