The renaissance of antibody therapy

• Published in: Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy Vol. 41; no. 3; pp. 319 - 322
• Main Authors: BURNIE, J. P, MATTHEWS, R. C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01-03-1998
• Subjects: Antibodies, Bacterial - immunology; Antibodies, Bacterial - therapeutic use; Antibodies, Fungal - immunology; Antibodies, Fungal - therapeutic use; Antibodies, Monoclonal - immunology; Antibodies, Monoclonal - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Humans; Immunomodulators; Immunotherapy; Infection - immunology; Infection - microbiology; Infection - therapy; Medical sciences; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Immune response; Treatment; Targeting; Toxicity; Immunotherapy; Monoclonal antibody; Review
• ISSN: 0305-7453; 1460-2091
• DOI: 10.1093/jac/41.3.319

The perfect therapeutic agent would be effective and safe, be specific to the infection under treatment, act synergically with other arms of the host's response, have no serious drug interactions, respond to the problem of microbial resistance by spontaneously altering its target, be available prophylactically from birth, able to respond to the challenge of an infection by increasing its dose and capable of acting at different sites within the human body. No antibiotic has achieved more than a fraction of these attributes, yet these attributes are characteristic of antibodies. Why then are antibodies not the mainstay of therapy? The answer lies in considering the current state of antibiotic therapy, the type of antibodies now available and the limitations in our knowledge as to which targets they should be directed against.