Abstract: Pharmaceutical compositions for prevention or treatment of diseases caused by interleukin-6 production, comprising an antibody to interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R antibody). As the IL-6R antibody, an antibody of animals other than the human such as mice, rats, etc., a chimeric antibody between these and a human antibody, a reshaped human antibody, etc. may be used. The pharmaceutical compositions are useful for prevention or treatment of diseases caused by interleukin-6 production such as plasmacytosis, anti-IgGl-emia, anemia, nephritis, etc.

Abstract: The present invention provides a transgenic animal expressing the full-length human hepatitis C virus (HCV) for the purpose of constructing a system for screening for a remedy for human hepatitis C. The present invention is a transgenic hepatitis C model animal, which has the full-length DNA of the hepatitis C virus incorporated therein and can express the full-length HCV gene, and a method of generating a hepatitis C model animal carrying the full-length HCV gene, which comprises introducing a vector containing the full-length DNA of hepatitis C virus into an ES cell, and causing the ES cells to undergo ontogenesis in a pseudo-parent.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for efficiently infecting a small animal with hepatitis C virus. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method for infecting a small animal with hepatitis C virus, which comprises a step of administering RNA containing the genomic RNA of hepatitis C virus into the liver, or a step of administering to a small animal the culture supernatant of an animal cell having a vector that contains cDNA corresponding to the genomic RNA of hepatitis C virus introduced therein, and relates to a small animal infected with hepatitis C virus by these methods. The present invention further relates to a method for screening for remedies against hepatitis C virus-associated diseases, or substances that inhibit the growth of hepatitis C virus using the yield of the virus as an indicator.

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to reproduce conditions where viral proteins can function along with the original life cycle of the viruses and to establish an expression system which can evaluate the function of viral proteins by a reporter gene without generating infectious viruses. The present invention provides an assay system comprising a vector containing DNA coding for RNA virus-derived RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and a vector containing a reporter gene expressed in the anti-sense direction.