Antibody Therapy: Past, Present and Future

Abstract

The emergence of pandemics like SARS-CoV-2 and a gradual increase in Multidrug Resistant (MDR) infections highlights the need of innovation in therapeutics. Antibodies are one of the potential solutions for long. Antibody therapy has come very long way from the fight against infectious diseases, bacterial toxins to hybridoma technology and monoclonal antibodies. Hybridoma cells receive a deserving attention due to their antigen-specificity. But, as they were murine in origin, Human Anti Murine Antibody (HAMA) emerged. To achieve this, phage display was introduced. The emergence of molecular cloning lead to the generation of genetically engineered recombinant antibodies such as Fab, Fc, Variable Fragment (Fv), Single Chain Variable Fragments (scFv), single domain antibodies, diabodies; like scFv fragments to different moieties, such as drugs toxins, radionuclides, liposomes or quantum dots etc. Minimized antibodies have several advantages like rapid blood clearance, reduced immunogenicity, low retention time in non-target tissues, access to cryptic epitopes facilitating tumor penetration, rapid growth facilitating higher yield and lower production cost. This paper gives an overview of the history of development of antibodies and its fragments as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of infectious diseases, one of the biggest challenges of humanity.