Antibodies are the principal immune effectors that mediate protection against reinfection following viral infection or vaccination. Robust techniques for human mAb isolation have been developed in the last decade. The study of human mAbs isolated from subjects with prior immunity has become a mainstay for rational structure-based, next-generation vaccine development. The plethora of detailed molecular and genetic studies coupling the structure of antigen-antibody complexes with their antiviral function has begun to reveal common principles of critical interactions on which we can build better vaccines and therapeutic antibodies. This review outlines the approaches to isolating and studying human antiviral mAbs and discusses the common principles underlying the basis for their activity. This review also examines progress toward the goal of achieving a comprehensive understanding of the chemical and physical basis for molecular recognition of viral surface proteins in order to build predictive molecular models that can be used for vaccine design.

抗体是主要的免疫效应子，可介导针对病毒感染或疫苗接种后再感染的保护作用。在过去的十年中，已经开发了用于人mAb分离的可靠技术。从具有先前免疫力的受试者中分离出的人类mAb的研究已成为基于合理结构的下一代疫苗开发的主要内容。大量详细的分子和遗传研究将抗原-抗体复合物的结构与其抗病毒功能结合在一起，已经开始揭示关键相互作用的共同原理，在这些原理上我们可以构建更好的疫苗和治疗性抗体。这篇综述概述了分离和研究人类抗病毒单克隆抗体的方法，并讨论了其活性基础的共同原则。