Topics and Trends in Most Cited Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research Papers

Ranked by citations 18 months after publication

Class of 2026 (Papers Published in 2024)

What topics and trends defined most-cited Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research research in the Class of 2026?

The 2026 cohort demonstrates a marked shift toward AI-guided antibody discovery, with protein and antibody language models gaining substantial traction. While traditional mainstays like antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) remain central, we observe a surge in fundamental B-cell immunology topics such as somatic hypermutation and memory B cells.

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Updated July 15, 2026

At a glance

Field
Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research
Cohort label
Class of 2026 (2024 publications)
Papers analyzed
8,711
Papers ranked
20
Top topics in ranked papers
Antibody-drug conjugates, somatic hypermutation, protein language models
Publication window
Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024
Eligibility
Research articles; reviews excluded
Citation window
18 months post-publication
18m citation range
42–129
Data source
OpenAlex · Retrieved Jul 2026
License
CC BY 4.0

Rankings

20 papers ranked by 18-month citation count

#1 of 8,711
12918m citations

Evolving antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 antigenic shift from XBB to JN.1

Fanchong Jian, Jing Wang, Ayijiang Yisimayi, Weiliang Song, Yanli Xu et al.Nature202410.1038/s41586-024-08315-x

Yunlong CaoPeking University, China

SARS-CoV-2XBBJN.1antigen escapeantibody responseviral evolutionneutralizing antibodiesimmune evasionOmicron sublineagesspike protein mutationsserum neutralizationVaccine-mediated protectioninfection-induced immunitycross-reactivityantigenic distance
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#4 of 8,711
7418m citations

BL-B01D1, a first-in-class EGFR–HER3 bispecific antibody–drug conjugate, in patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumours: a first-in-human, open-label, multicentre, phase 1 study

Yuxiang Ma et al.The Lancet Oncology202410.1016/s1470-2045(24)00159-1

Li Zhang, Hongyun ZhaoSun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, China

BL-B01D1EGFR–HER3 bispecific antibody–drug conjugatelocally advanced solid tumoursMetastatic solid tumorsPhase I trialEGFR targetingHER3 targetingbispecific antibodyantibody-drug conjugate
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#5 of 8,711
6018m citations

Long-term 3-year follow-up of mosunetuzumab in relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma after ≥2 prior therapies

Laurie H Sehn et al.Blood202410.1182/blood.2024025454

Laurie H SehnBC Cancer Centre for Lymphoid Cancer, Canada

MosunetuzumabCD20-targeted therapyT-cell-engaging bispecific antibodyRelapsed/refractory follicular lymphomaFixed-duration treatmentComplete response rateObjective response rateDuration of responseProgression-free survivalOverall survivalCD19+ B-cell recoverycytokine release syndromeOff-the-shelf therapyOutpatient administrationHigh-risk diseasePhase I/II trialNCT02500407Long-term follow-up safety≥2 prior lines of therapy
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#6 of 8,711
5918m citations

Real-world analysis of teclistamab in 123 RRMM patients from Germany

C Riedhammer et al.Leukemia202410.1038/s41375-024-02154-5

Leo RascheUniversity Hospital of Würzburg, Germany

teclistamabBCMA-CD3 bispecific antibodyMajesTEC-1Relapsed/refractory multiple myelomaTriple-class refractory multiple myelomaPenta-drug refractory multiple myelomaprior BCMA-directed therapyidecabtagene vicleucelCAR T-cell therapyObjective response rateProgression-free survivalExtramedullary diseaseISS stage IIIDuration of responseBCMA-naive patientscytopeniasinfections as adverse eventsReal-world evidenceGerman multicenter cohortRetrospective analysis
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#7 of 8,711
5818m citations

CD23 <sup>+</sup> IgG1 <sup>+</sup> memory B cells are poised to switch to pathogenic IgE production in food allergy

Miyo Ota et al.Science Translational Medicine202410.1126/scitranslmed.adi0673

Miyo Ota, Kenneth B. Hoehn, Weslley Fernandes‐Braga, Maria A. Curotto de LafailleIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, United States

CD23+ IgG1+ memory B cellsclass switch recombinationpeanut allergyAra h 2high-affinity peanut-specific B cell clonesIL-4/IL-13-regulated gene expressionFCER2/CD23IL4Rgermline IGHE transcriptionsomatic hypermutationsingle-cell RNA sequencingtype 2 immune responseconvergent BCR sequencesIgE-producing plasma cellspediatric food allergymemory B cellsserum peanut-specific IgEallergen-specific antibody responses
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#8 of 8,711
5418m citations

Impact of soluble BCMA and non–T-cell factors on refractoriness to BCMA-targeting T-cell engagers in multiple myeloma

Holly Lee et al.Blood202410.1182/blood.2024026212

Holly LeeUniversity of Calgary, Canada

soluble BCMABCMA-targeting T-cell engagersteclistamabmultiple myelomaCAR T-cell therapyprimary refractorinessBCMA expressiontumor burdenGPRC5Dgamma secretase inhibitorswhole-genome sequencingin vitro cytotoxicity assayTCE dose intensityadoptive T-cell therapyPredictive biomarkercorrelative patient analysishigh-risk disease featuresanti-BCMA therapy resistancebaseline sBCMA threshold
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#9 of 8,711
5218m citations

Large scale paired antibody language models

Henry Kenlay et al.PLoS Computational Biology202410.1371/journal.pcbi.1012646

Henry Kenlay, Frédéric A. Dreyer, Aleksandr Kovaltsuk, Dom Miketa, Douglas E. V. Pires, Charlotte M. DeaneExscientia, United Kingdom

IgBertIgT5antibody language modelpaired antibody sequencesunpaired antibody sequencesObserved Antibody Space datasetantibody chainsnext-generation sequencingantibody engineeringprotein language modelBiotherapeutics designantigen specificityantibody affinityregression tasks for antibody propertiessequence design taskshigh-performance computing for machine learninglarge-scale sequence datasetsvariable region modelingantibody discovery
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#10 of 8,711
5018m citations

mRNA-LNP HIV-1 trimer boosters elicit precursors to broad neutralizing antibodies

Zhenfei Xie, Ying-Cing Lin, Jon M Steichen, Gabriel Ozorowski et al.Science202410.1126/science.adk0582

Zhenfei Xie, Ying‐Cing Lin, Jon M. Steichen, Gabriel Ozorowski, Andrew B. Ward, William R. Schief, Facundo D. BatistaThe Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard, United States

mRNA-LNP deliveryGermline-targeting immunogenN332-GT5Broadly neutralizing antibodiesV3-glycan epitopeHumanized mouse modelmemory B cellsgerminal center reactionepitope analysisB cell receptor modificationsomatic hypermutationaffinity maturationprime-boost immunization strategyoff-target V1-binding responsesprecursor B cellsHIV vaccine designlipid nanoparticle formulationcross-reactivity minimizationprotein trimer immunogen design
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#12 of 8,711
4918m citations

De novo generation of SARS-CoV-2 antibody CDRH3 with a pre-trained generative large language model

Haohuai He, Bing He, Lei Guan et al.Nature Communications202410.1038/s41467-024-50903-y

Bing He, Calvin Yu‐Chian Chen, Ting Li, Jianhua YaoTencent, China

PALM-H3CDR3generative large language modelA2binderantibody-antigen binding predictionSARS-CoV-2 spike proteinXBBneutralization capabilityRoformer architectureattention mechanism interpretabilityin-silico antibody designartificial antibody generationantigen specificityAlpha variantDelta variantwild-type SARS-CoV-2antibody language model
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#13 of 8,711
4918m citations

Addressing the antibody germline bias and its effect on language models for improved antibody design

Tobias H Olsen et al.Bioinformatics202410.1093/bioinformatics/btae618

Tobias H OlsenUniversity of Oxford, United Kingdom

immunoglobulin germline genesantibody language modelprotein language modelV(D)J recombinationsomatic hypermutationAbLang-2paired antibody sequencesunpaired antibody sequencesantibody variable domaintherapeutic antibody designantibody developabilitymutation suggestion for binding affinitypre-training bias in language models
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#14 of 8,711
4618m citations

Exo-Cleavable Linkers: Enhanced Stability and Therapeutic Efficacy in Antibody–Drug Conjugates

Tomohiro Watanabe et al.Journal of Medicinal Chemistry202410.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c01251

Yutaka MatsudaAjinomoto Co., Inc., Japan

antibody-drug conjugateexolinkervaline-citrulline linkerp-aminobenzylcarbamateDrug-to-antibody ratiopremature payload releasehydrophobicity-induced aggregationglutamic acid hydrophilic spacercleavable peptide linkercarboxylesterase stabilityhuman neutrophil elastaseCytotoxic payloadcirculatory stabilitytumor payload releaseexo position repositioningin vivo ADC profileDAR improvementlinker design
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#15 of 8,711
4418m citations

Assessing antibody and nanobody nativeness for hit selection and humanization with AbNatiV

Aubin Ramon et al.Nature Machine Intelligence202410.1038/s42256-023-00778-3

Pietro SormanniUniversity of Cambridge, United Kingdom

AbNatiVnanobody nativeness scoringdeep learning antibody assessmentnanobodyantibody humanization pipelineFv sequence predictionimmunogenicity likelihood predictionresidue-level nativeness profilehit selection for therapeuticsDirected evolutionsynthetic antibody librariescomputational antibody designstructural and residue-frequency humanizationbinding and stability retentionmonoclonal antibodynatural antibodieswebserver tool for antibody engineering
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#16 of 8,711
4418m citations

Durable Responses With Mosunetuzumab in Relapsed/Refractory Indolent and Aggressive B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas: Extended Follow-Up of a Phase I/II Study

Lihua E Budde et al.Journal of Clinical Oncology202410.1200/jco.23.02329

Lihua E BuddeCity of Hope National Medical Center, United States

MosunetuzumabCD20-targeted therapyT-cell-engaging bispecific antibodyrelapsed/refractory indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomarelapsed/refractory aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomaFixed-duration treatmentOff-the-shelf therapyOutpatient administrationPhase I/II trialDuration of responseComplete response rateretreatment upon progressiondurable remissionNCT02500407extended follow-up analysisObjective response rate
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#17 of 8,711
4318m citations

A unique serum IgG glycosylation signature predicts development of Crohn’s disease and is associated with pathogenic antibodies to mannose glycan

Joana Gaifem, Cláudia S Rodrigues et al.Nature Immunology202410.1038/s41590-024-01916-8

Salomé S. PinhoUniversity of Porto, Portugal

Fc glycosylationagalactosylationanti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies (ASCA)PREDICTS cohortpreclinical Crohn's disease phaseIgG2 Fc glycan traitmannose glycan recognitionFcγR-dependent signalingNF-κB signalingCARD9 signalinginflammasome activationdendritic cell reprogrammingnatural killer cell activationadoptive antibody transfer mouse modelFcγR-deficient miceanti-mannan antibodiesglycome-ASCA hubserum biomarker for disease predictionintestinal inflammation susceptibilityproinflammatory antibody glycoform
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#18 of 8,711
4318m citations

Conjugation Chemistry Markedly Impacts Toxicity and Biodistribution of Targeted Nanoparticles, Mediated by Complement Activation

Michael H Zaleski et al.Advanced Materials202410.1002/adma.202409945

Jacob W. Myerson, Jacob S. BrennerUniversity of Pennsylvania, United States

antibody-targeted lipid nanoparticlesBioconjugation chemistrycomplement activationantibody-drug conjugatebiodistribution changesphagocyte uptake in lungsplatelet count reductiondibenzocyclooctyne click chemistrythiol-maleimide chemistryantibody aggregation on nanoparticle surfacefree maleimide-albumin conjugationalbumin clusteringcomplement cascade of plasma proteinsopsonizationnanomedicine toxicitydrug delivery systemsCOVID-19 vaccine-inspired lipid nanoparticlesengineered chemistry solutions to reduce complement activation
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#19 of 8,711
4218m citations

A humanized mouse that mounts mature class-switched, hypermutated and neutralizing antibody responses

Daniel P Chupp, Carlos E Rivera, Yulai Zhou et al.Nature Immunology202410.1038/s41590-024-01880-3

Paolo CasaliThe University of Texas Long School of Medicine, United States

Humanized mouse modelKit W-41J mutant immunodeficient micehuman cord blood CD34+ cell engraftment17β-estradiol conditioninggenetic myeloablationnon-γ-irradiation conditioningmarginal zone B cellsgerminal center B cellsT follicular helper cellsPeyer's patches reconstitutionhuman thymic epithelial cellsimmune repertoiresomatic hypermutationclass switch recombinationmemory B cellsflagellin immunizationPfizer-BioNTech vaccineSARS-CoV-2 Spike S1 receptor-binding domain neutralizing antibodiespristane-induced lupus autoimmunityAPRIL BAFF TGF-β IL-4 IFN-γ cytokine profile
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Dominant research themes and year-over-year shifts in Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research

What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

The Class of 2026 is defined by a dual focus on advanced therapeutics and foundational immunology. Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) continue to anchor the field, remaining a highly cited and stable topic as novel payload-linker technologies enter the clinic. Equally prominent, however, is a renewed emphasis on the mechanisms of antibody generation and maturation. Concepts such as somatic hypermutation and memory B cells emerged as top themes, reflecting a growing effort to understand natural immune repertoires and harness them for therapeutic discovery. Simultaneously, the landscape is heavily influenced by engineered biologics and bispecific formats. T-cell-engaging bispecific antibodies and targeted therapies (such as those directed at CD20 and BCMA) feature prominently, underscoring the ongoing translation of complex antibody architectures into standard-of-care treatments for malignancies like relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Notably, this cohort also highlights the rapid integration of artificial intelligence into the field, with protein language models cementing their position as critical tools for predicting antibody structure, function, and developability.

Leading research themes
Leading research themes

How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

The shift from the Class of 2025 to 2026 reveals a transformative period for antibody research, marked by the explosive rise of computational methods and foundational B-cell biology. The most striking increase was seen in somatic hypermutation, which surged from a baseline of zero representation in the top tier to become one of the most defining concepts of the year. This was paralleled by a sharp rise in memory B cells, indicating a strategic pivot toward mining natural immune responses for novel antibody discovery. In tandem, the adoption of artificial intelligence accelerated dramatically. Protein language models and antibody language models experienced significant growth, transforming from niche computational techniques into mainstream approaches for in silico antibody design and affinity maturation. Conversely, some mature clinical themes, such as relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and T-cell-engaging bispecific antibodies, saw a relative decline in citation share. This suggests that while these clinical applications remain important, the vanguard of the field is increasingly focused on the upstream discovery engines—both biological and computational—that will generate the next generation of antibody therapeutics.

How topics shifted year over year
How topics shifted year over year
Methodology

PRI identifies high-impact research using a transparent, topic-agnostic framework applied consistently across scientific domains. Bibliographic records are drawn from OpenAlex, including publication dates, citation relationships, and document types.

This ranking covers the Class of 2026 cohort: journal articles published in 2024. Reviews and other non-article document types are excluded to ensure comparability.

Research impact is quantified with an 18-month post-publication citation window—the number of citing works published within 18 months of each paper's publication date. This metric captures early impact while controlling for publication age.

An LLM-based relevance classifier then reviews each candidate's title and abstract to confirm substantive alignment with the target domain. Only papers classified as relevant appear in the final ranking.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459

Full methodologyGitHubbioRxiv preprint

Cite this ranking

Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/monoclonal-and-polyclonal-antibodies-research/2026. Accessed 2026-07-15.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459