Catalytic antibodies: Concept and promise

Abstract

While chemistry provides the framework for understanding the structure and function of biomolecules, the immune system provides a highly evolved natural process to generate one class of complex biomolecules-the antibodies. A combination of the two could be exploited to generate new classes of molecules with novel functions. Indeed, one example of this productive interplay is the generation of catalytic antibodies or abzymes. A catalytic antibody is a sort of natural artificial enzyme — it is a natural protein synthesized by the usual biological processes and is intended to catalyze a reaction for which no real enzyme is available. The essential idea is to raise antibodies to a molecule considered to mimic the transition state intermediate of a reaction that is to be catalyzed i.e., a molecule resembling a strained structure intermediate between the substrate and product, believed to occur in the reaction pathway. The hope is that some of the antibodies produced will happen to possess groups capable of promoting the reaction.