The therapeutic potential for catalytic antibodies: from a concept to a promise

More than ten years have now elapsed since the first reports confirmed that antibodies not only label antigenic targets but can also perform catalytic functions. Much of the initial research in this area focussed on exploring the scope and utility of these biocatalysts both as enzyme mimics and as programmable protein catalysts. However, their potential in the biomedical field has also been probed. This review details the present perspective of catalytic antibodies as new tools for immunotherapy and specifically focuses on their application to prodrug activation and drug inactivation.