Monoclonal Antibodies; Antibodies Used in the Diagnosis & Treatment of Many Diseases

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the immune system's ability to fight off harmful pathogens such as viruses. The mAb treatment can block the virus, such as SARS-CoV-2 (virus that causes COVID-19), from entering cells in the body and limit the amount of the virus within the body. Monoclonal antibodies are a type of immunotherapy, and several mAbs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are used for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.

There are four types of monoclonal antibodies (depending on the source), such as humanized, chimeric, murine, and human. Murine antibodies are derived from a murine source, whereas chimeric antibodies contain constant regions from human origin and variable regions from the murine origin. Human antibodies are derived from human source, while humanized antibodies are also derived from human source with a small part of a rat or mouse mAbs. Blinatumomab, Kymriah, Gardasil, Proleukin, Rituximab, Nivolumab, and Iplimumab are some commercially available monoclonal antibodies.

Monoclonal antibodies have brought a fundamental change in both the pharma and biopharma industries and are expected to play a vital role in clinical protocols in the future with further development of these molecular agents. mAbs find application in the treatment of a variety of diseases, especially cancer, autoimmune, and inflammatory diseases, among others. They serve as an important tool for the detection or purification of substances due to their site specificity, and thus, they have important end-uses in molecular biology, biochemistry, and medicine.

Monoclonal antibodies in combination with chemotherapy agents are a viable treatment option for the treatment of various cancers. Thus, with the increasing prevalence of cancer and other chronic diseases around the world, the demand for monoclonal antibody therapeutics is also increasing. For example, according to the American Cancer Society, in 2021, there will be over 1.9 million new cases of cancer and 608,570 cancer deaths in the United States. This in turn is expected to increase the demand for monoclonal antibody therapeutics in this region.