Fig. 2.

Efficacy of antibody-based therapy can be focused using novel technological approaches. Serum therapy presents the broadest activity, due to the polyclonality of the antibodies (obtained either from animals or convalescent patients). Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are specific for a single epitope, and can be engineered to increase their potency, efficacy, and half-life. Combination of mAbs as cocktails or, in the future, as synthetically designed polyclonals could enhance the broadness of the treatment, avoiding the side effects and the low specificity of conventional serum therapy.