Chapter 17 - Monoclonal antibodies for diagnostic and therapeutic systems to combat microbial infections

Abstract

Diagnosis and effective therapy of microbial infections are often complicated processes. Antibodies can be used for rapid, specific diagnosis and therapy of those infections because of target selectivity and specificity. Monoclonal antibodies show higher target specificity compared to polyclonal antibodies. Single epitopes specificity of monoclonal antibodies makes them the leading therapeutic and diagnostic tool against microbial infections by lowering the potential of off-target reactions and misleading diagnosis. Employing monoclonal antibodies to diagnose and treat microbial infections has been attracting significant attention despite some economic obstacles. This chapter focuses on the potential diagnostic and therapeutic use of monoclonal antibodies to combat different microbial infections, including bacterial infections, viral infections, and some other infections in vivo and in vitro. The recent advances made in monoclonal antibody development against various microbial diseases for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes are discussed. Finally, some key challenges in designing, manufacturing, and developing monoclonal antibodies for diagnostic and therapeutic systems and their limitations and future trends are explained.