Peptide Antibodies in Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics

Peptide antibodies, with their high specificities and affinities, are invaluable reagents for peptide and protein recognition in biological specimens. Depending on the application and the assay, in which the peptide antibody is to used, several factors influence successful antibody production, including peptide selection and antibody screening. Peptide antibodies have been used in clinical laboratory diagnostics with great success for decades, primarily because they can be produced to multiple targets, recognizing native wildtype proteins, denatured proteins, and newly generated epitopes. Especially mutation-specific peptide antibodies have become important as diagnostic tools in the detection of various cancers. In addition to their use as diagnostic tools in malignant and premalignant conditions, peptide antibodies are applied in all other areas of clinical laboratory diagnostics, including endocrinology, hematology, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and amyloidoses.