Future perspectives of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies.

Attention to therapeutic monoclonal antibodies has been dramatically increasing year by year. Their highly specific targeting of antigens can provide very effective medical treatment, and the advent of molecular-targeting medicine is allowing development of a new generation of therapeutic agents. However, there is one critical obstacle to overcome. Most of the established therapeutic monoclonal antibodies have specificity for the primary structures of target antigens, although all proteins harbor original native intact structures for their own specific functions. Stereo-specific monoclonal antibodies recognizing conformational structures of target antigens may thus offer a markedly more versatile approach. Their application may change the very concepts underlying use of therapeutic antibodies.