Harnessing the immune system's arsenal: producing human monoclonal antibodies for therapeutics and investigating immune responses

Sullivan, Meghan; Kaur, Kaval; Pauli, Noel; Wilson, Patrick C.

The current state of monoclonal antibody technology is enabling exciting advancements in immunotherapies and understanding of host-pathogen interactions. Maybe more importantly, it is now evident that insight into our natural immune responses can facilitate rational vaccine development. Thus, the most important lessons may be those we've garnered from our bodies' natural responses; not only can we can capitalize on our strengths, such as targeting of specific pathogenic epitopes, but we can also compensate for our inherent weaknesses, such as the rarity of our most powerful antibodies. In the end, the information we gather from monoclonal antibody technology may be more important than the direct attainment of therapeutics (borrowing from an old adage, catch a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime). Similarly, by studying what antibodies can teach us, we may someday produce vaccines that eradicate many infectious diseases that have a profound impact on human health such as influenza, hepatitis, or HIV.