mAbs (Dec 2022)

Progress and challenges for the machine learning-based design of fit-for-purpose monoclonal antibodies

  • Rahmad Akbar,
  • Habib Bashour,
  • Puneet Rawat,
  • Philippe A. Robert,
  • Eva Smorodina,
  • Tudor-Stefan Cotet,
  • Karine Flem-Karlsen,
  • Robert Frank,
  • Brij Bhushan Mehta,
  • Mai Ha Vu,
  • Talip Zengin,
  • Jose Gutierrez-Marcos,
  • Fridtjof Lund-Johansen,
  • Jan Terje Andersen,
  • Victor Greiff

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/19420862.2021.2008790
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 1

Abstract

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Although the therapeutic efficacy and commercial success of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are tremendous, the design and discovery of new candidates remain a time and cost-intensive endeavor. In this regard, progress in the generation of data describing antigen binding and developability, computational methodology, and artificial intelligence may pave the way for a new era of in silico on-demand immunotherapeutics design and discovery. Here, we argue that the main necessary machine learning (ML) components for an in silico mAb sequence generator are: understanding of the rules of mAb-antigen binding, capacity to modularly combine mAb design parameters, and algorithms for unconstrained parameter-driven in silico mAb sequence synthesis. We review the current progress toward the realization of these necessary components and discuss the challenges that must be overcome to allow the on-demand ML-based discovery and design of fit-for-purpose mAb therapeutic candidates.

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