Advantages of recombinant antibodies proteins that bind to their target with a high level of specificity and affinity, making them incredibly useful research tools. Their incredible purity and batch consistency, scalability, shortened production time, decreased immunogenicity, customization capabilities and lack of animal use have made them one of the most popular biological reagents.

While polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies have a long history of successful applications, the advent of recombinant antibodies has changed modern therapeutics. The unparalleled advantages offered by recombinant antibodies such as full control over antibody sequence and structure from gene to Ab/antigen binding, higher specificity, improved reproducibility and shorter turnaround time are revolutionizing scientific research, diagnostics, and therapeutics.

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The recombinant antibody process allows scientists to produce custom antibodies in vitro using genetically modified cell lines. These cells can be bacterial (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pichia pastoris), mammalian (HeK293, BHK-2, CHO, NS0) or plant (Daucus carota, Nicotiana tabacum BY-2 and Nicotiana benthamiana) depending on the application. Various techniques are used to improve antibody expression, such as enhancing the antibody gene sequence with stronger promoters and enhancers, optimizing the culture conditions or introducing molecular chaperones.

Recombinant antibodies are produced as scFv, Fab or Fc-protein conjugates and offer many benefits over monoclonal antibodies. For example, scFv and Fab antibodies are smaller and less immunogenic, allowing them to reach harder-to-reach targets inside the body for therapeutic uses. They can also be used to produce multispecific antibodies that recognize multiple epitopes on the same target and therefore increase the effectiveness of therapy. They can also be used to make Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) that deliver cytotoxic drugs only to cancer cells without harming healthy tissues.