Peptide Antibodies: Past, Present, and Future

Peptide antibodies recognize epitopes with amino acid residues adjacent in sequence ("linear" epitopes). Such antibodies can be made to virtually any sequence and have been immensely important in all areas of molecular biology and diagnostics due to their versatility and to the rapid growth in protein sequence information. Today, peptide antibodies can be routinely and rapidly made to large numbers of peptides, including peptides with posttranslationally modified residues, and are used for immunoblotting, immunocytochemistry, immunohistochemistry, and immunoassays. In the future, peptide antibodies will continue to be immensely important for molecular biology, TCR- and MHC-like peptide antibodies may be produced routinely, peptide antibodies with predetermined conformational specificities may be designed, and peptide-based vaccines may become part of vaccination programs.