antibody

Also known as Ab, antibodies

thumb|upright=1.2|Each antibody binds to a specific antigen in a highly specific interaction analogous to a lock and key.

AI overview

An antibody is a protein your body makes that attaches to specific harmful invaders like viruses or bacteria, recognizing them much like a key fits into a lock. This matters because antibodies help your immune system identify and fight off these threats, which is essential for protecting you from getting sick.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Research

1,680,107 papers

Considerations for the Design of Antibody-Based Therapeutics.ReviewJournal of pharmaceutical sciences · 2020Goulet DR, Atkins WMDOI: 10.1016/j.xphs.2019.05.031
Antibody stability: A key to performance - Analysis, influences and improvement.ReviewBiochimie · 2020Ma H, Ó'Fágáin C, O'Kennedy RDOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2020.08.019
Antibody glycoengineering strategies in mammalian cells.ReviewBiotechnology and bioengineering · 2018Wang Q, Chung CY, Chough S et al.DOI: 10.1002/bit.26567
Antibody recycling by engineered pH-dependent antigen binding improves the duration of antigen neutralization.Nature biotechnology · 2010Igawa T, Ishii S, Tachibana T et al.DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1691
Antibody validation: a view from the mountains.ReviewNew biotechnology · 2018Taussig MJ, Fonseca C, Trimmer JSDOI: 10.1016/j.nbt.2018.08.002
Post-translational assembly of multi-functional antibody.ReviewBiotechnology advances · 2025Gao B, Sun QDOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2025.108533
The role of antibody delivery formation in cancer therapy.ReviewJournal of drug targeting · 2020Qi T, Shi Y, Huang Y et al.DOI: 10.1080/1061186X.2020.1728537
Antibody specific epitope prediction-emergence of a new paradigm.ReviewCurrent opinion in virology · 2015Sela-Culang I, Ofran Y, Peters BDOI: 10.1016/j.coviro.2015.03.012

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Wikidata facts

Image: Immunoglobulin basic unit.svg

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Commons category: Antibodies
NCI Thesaurus ID: C16295

Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

~61 min read

Article

42 sections

Contents

Sources of antibodies
Structure
Antigen-binding site
Fc region
Protein structure
Antibody complexes
B cell receptors
Classes
Light chain types
In non-mammalian animals
Antibody–antigen interactions
Function
Activation of complement
Activation of effector cells
Natural antibodies
Role in vaccine-induced protection
Immunoglobulin diversity
Domain variability
V(D)J recombination
Somatic hypermutation and affinity maturation
Class switching
Specificity designations
Asymmetrical antibodies
Interchromosomal DNA Transposition
History
Medical applications
Disease diagnosis
Detection of antibody
Detection of antigen
Disease therapy
Prenatal therapy
Research applications
Regulations
Production and testing
Before clinical trials
Preclinical studies
Structure prediction and computational antibody design
Antibody mimetic
{{anchor|BAU}}Binding antibody unit
See also
References
External links

thumb|upright=1.2|Each antibody binds to a specific antigen in a highly specific interaction analogous to a lock and key.

An antibody (Ab), or immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as those that exist on bacteria and virus cells, including those that cause disease. Each individual antibody recognizes one or more specific antigens, and antigens (a portmanteau of "antibody generator") of virtually any size and chemical composition can be recognized. Each of the branching chains comprising the "Y" of an antibody contains a paratope (the antigen-binding site) that specifically binds to one particular epitope (a specific part of an antigen bound by the paratope) on an antigen, allowing the two molecules to bind together with precision. Using this mechanism, antibodies can effectively "tag" the antigen (or a microbe or an infected cell bearing such an antigen) for attack by cells of the immune system, or can neutralize it directly (for example, by blocking a part of a virus that is essential for its ability to invade a host cell).