Phage Display Technology: A Way Forward for Production of Recombinant Monoclonal Antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have become an indispensable part of the healthcare sector having various applications in diagnosis, therapeutic and clinical research. For the purpose of sustaining a continuous supply of highly specific and fully human mAbs, scientists have developed several cutting-edge techniques in the last two decades. Among them, phage display technology is one of the techniques that has been on the rise and may become the go-to method for the production of human mAbs in the near future. Phage display is an effective tool to engineer desirable human mAbs in vitro by genetically manipulating bacteriophages to synthesize mAbs on their surface. This chapter delves into the history, breakthroughs and shortcomings of mAbs’ production and explores both past and current scenarios in depth. Previous mAbs of chimeric or humanized origins have also been discussed along with the need for fully human mAbs. The chapter will shed light on the exact mechanism behind the synthesis of mAbs using phage display technology. Applications of human mAbs in the healthcare sector have been summarized to offer a better understanding. In the interest of providing a well-rounded opinion on phage display technology, the authors have compared it with other methods of mAbs’ production, its drawbacks and its potential impact in future.