# Topics and Trends in Most Cited Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research Papers, Class of 2026

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/monoclonal-and-polyclonal-antibodies-research/2026*

## 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.

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| 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

| Rank | Title | Authors | Corresponding authors | Affiliation | Journal | 18m citations | DOI |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| 1 | Evolving antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 antigenic shift from XBB to JN.1 | Fanchong Jian, Jing Wang, Ayijiang Yisimayi, Weiliang Song, Yanli Xu, Xiaosu Chen, Xiao Niu, Sijie Yang, Yuanling Yu, Peng Wang, Haiyan Sun, Lingling Yu, Jing Wang, Yao Wang, Ran An, Wenjing Wang, Miaomiao Ma, Tianhe Xiao, Qingqing Gu, Fei Shao, Youchun Wang, Zhongyang Shen, Ronghua Jin, Yunlong Cao | Yunlong Cao | Peking University, China | Nature | 129 | 10.1038/s41586-024-08315-x |
| 2 | Bispecific T cell engager therapy for refractory rheumatoid arthritis | Laura Bucci, Melanie Hagen, Tobias Rothe, Maria Gabriella Raimondo, Filippo Fagni, Carlo Tur, Andreas Wirsching, Jochen Wacker, Artur Wilhelm, Jean-Philippe Auger, Milena Pachowsky, Markus Eckstein, Stefano Alivernini, Angelo Zoli, Gerhard Krönke, Stefan Uderhardt, Aline Bozec, Maria-Antonietta D'Agostino, Georg Schett, Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer | Georg Schett | Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany | Nature Medicine | 94 | 10.1038/s41591-024-02964-1 |
| 3 | Mirror-image protein and peptide drug discovery through mirror-image phage display | Yun‐Kun Qi, Ji‐Shen Zheng, Lei Liu | Ji‐Shen Zheng, Lei Liu | Qingdao University, China | Chem | 82 | 10.1016/j.chempr.2024.06.004 |
| 4 | 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, Yan Huang, Yuanyuan Zhao, Shen Zhao, Jinhui Xue, Yunpeng Yang, Wenfeng Fang, Ye Guo, Yaqian Han, Kunyu Yang, Yongsheng Li, Jun Yang, Zhenming Fu, Gang Chen, Likun Chen, Ningning Zhou, Ting Zhou, Yaxiong Zhang, Huaqiang Zhou, Qianwen Liu, Yi Zhu, Hai Zhu, Sa Xiao, Li Zhang, Hongyun Zhao | Li Zhang, Hongyun Zhao | Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, China | The Lancet Oncology | 74 | 10.1016/s1470-2045(24)00159-1 |
| 5 | Long-term 3-year follow-up of mosunetuzumab in relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma after ≥2 prior therapies | Laurie H Sehn, Nancy L Bartlett, Matthew J Matasar, Stephen J Schuster, Sarit E Assouline, Pratyush Giri, John Kuruvilla, Mazyar Shadman, Chan Yoon Cheah, Sascha Dietrich, Keith Fay, Matthew Ku, Loretta J Nastoupil, Michael C Wei, Shen Yin, Iris To, Derrick Kaufman, Antonia Kwan, Elicia Penuel, Christopher R Bolen, Lihua E Budde | Laurie H Sehn | BC Cancer Centre for Lymphoid Cancer, Canada | Blood | 60 | 10.1182/blood.2024025454 |
| 6 | Real-world analysis of teclistamab in 123 RRMM patients from Germany | C Riedhammer, F Bassermann, B Besemer, M Bewarder, F Brunner, A Carpinteiro, H Einsele, J Faltin, J Frenking, D Gezer, S Goldman-Mazur, M Hänel, M Hoegner, K M Kortuem, J Krönke, M Kull, T Leitner, C Mann, R Mecklenbrauck, M Merz, A Morgner, A Nogai, M S Raab, R Teipel, R Wäsch, L Rasche | Leo Rasche | University Hospital of Würzburg, Germany | Leukemia | 59 | 10.1038/s41375-024-02154-5 |
| 7 | CD23 <sup>+</sup> IgG1 <sup>+</sup> memory B cells are poised to switch to pathogenic IgE production in food allergy | Miyo Ota, Kenneth B Hoehn, Weslley Fernandes-Braga, Takayuki Ota, Carlos J Aranda, Sara Friedman, Mariana G C Miranda-Waldetario, Jamie Redes, Maria Suprun, Galina Grishina, Hugh A Sampson, Alefiyah Malbari, Steven H Kleinstein, Scott H Sicherer, Maria A Curotto de Lafaille | Miyo Ota, Kenneth B. Hoehn, Weslley Fernandes‐Braga, Maria A. Curotto de Lafaille | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, United States | Science Translational Medicine | 58 | 10.1126/scitranslmed.adi0673 |
| 8 | Impact of soluble BCMA and non–T-cell factors on refractoriness to BCMA-targeting T-cell engagers in multiple myeloma | Holly Lee, Michael Durante, Sheri Skerget, Deeksha Vishwamitra, Sacha Benaoudia, Sungwoo Ahn, Mansour Poorebrahim, Elie Barakat, David Jung, Noémie Leblay, Bachisio Ziccheddu, Benjamin Diamond, Marios Papadimitriou, Adam D Cohen, Ola Landgren, Paola Neri, Francesco Maura, Nizar J Bahlis | Holly Lee | University of Calgary, Canada | Blood | 54 | 10.1182/blood.2024026212 |
| 9 | Large scale paired antibody language models | Henry Kenlay, Frédéric A Dreyer, Aleksandr Kovaltsuk, Dom Miketa, Douglas Pires, Charlotte M Deane | Henry Kenlay, Frédéric A. Dreyer, Aleksandr Kovaltsuk, Dom Miketa, Douglas E. V. Pires, Charlotte M. Deane | Exscientia, United Kingdom | PLoS Computational Biology | 52 | 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012646 |
| 10 | mRNA-LNP HIV-1 trimer boosters elicit precursors to broad neutralizing antibodies | Zhenfei Xie, Ying-Cing Lin, Jon M Steichen, Gabriel Ozorowski, Sven Kratochvil, Rashmi Ray, Jonathan L Torres, Alessia Liguori, Oleksandr Kalyuzhniy, Xuesong Wang, John E Warner, Stephanie R Weldon, Gordon A Dale, Kathrin H Kirsch, Usha Nair, Sabyasachi Baboo, Erik Georgeson, Yumiko Adachi, Michael Kubitz, Abigail M Jackson, Sara T Richey, Reid M Volk, Jeong Hyun Lee, Jolene K Diedrich, Thavaleak Prum, Samantha Falcone, Sunny Himansu, Andrea Carfi, John R Yates, James C Paulson, Devin Sok, Andrew B Ward, William R Schief, Facundo D Batista | Zhenfei Xie, Ying‐Cing Lin, Jon M. Steichen, Gabriel Ozorowski, Andrew B. Ward, William R. Schief, Facundo D. Batista | The Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard, United States | Science | 50 | 10.1126/science.adk0582 |
| 11 | An autoantibody signature predictive for multiple sclerosis | Colin R Zamecnik, Gavin M Sowa, Ahmed Abdelhak, Ravi Dandekar, Rebecca D Bair, Kristen J Wade, Christopher M Bartley, Kerry Kizer, Danillo G Augusto, Asritha Tubati, Refujia Gomez, Camille Fouassier, Chloe Gerungan, Colette M Caspar, Jessica Alexander, Anne E Wapniarski, Rita P Loudermilk, Erica L Eggers, Kelsey C Zorn, Kirtana Ananth, Nora Jabassini, Sabrina A Mann, Nicholas R Ragan, Adam Santaniello, Roland G Henry, Sergio E Baranzini, Scott S Zamvil, Joseph J Sabatino, Riley M Bove, Chu-Yueh Guo, Jeffrey M Gelfand, Richard Cuneo, H-Christian von Büdingen, Jorge R Oksenberg, Bruce A C Cree, Jill A Hollenbach, Ari J Green, Stephen L Hauser, Mitchell T Wallin, Joseph L DeRisi, Michael R Wilson | Michael R. Wilson | University of California, San Francisco, United States | Nature Medicine | 49 | 10.1038/s41591-024-02938-3 |
| 12 | De novo generation of SARS-CoV-2 antibody CDRH3 with a pre-trained generative large language model | Haohuai He, Bing He, Lei Guan, Yu Zhao, Feng Jiang, Guanxing Chen, Qingge Zhu, Calvin Yu-Chian Chen, Ting Li, Jianhua Yao | Bing He, Calvin Yu‐Chian Chen, Ting Li, Jianhua Yao | Tencent, China | Nature Communications | 49 | 10.1038/s41467-024-50903-y |
| 13 | Addressing the antibody germline bias and its effect on language models for improved antibody design | Tobias H Olsen, Iain H Moal, Charlotte M Deane | Tobias H Olsen | University of Oxford, United Kingdom | Bioinformatics | 49 | 10.1093/bioinformatics/btae618 |
| 14 | Exo-Cleavable Linkers: Enhanced Stability and Therapeutic Efficacy in Antibody–Drug Conjugates | Tomohiro Watanabe, Naoko Arashida, Tomohiro Fujii, Natsuki Shikida, Kenichiro Ito, Kazutaka Shimbo, Takuya Seki, Yusuke Iwai, Ryusuke Hirama, Noriko Hatada, Akira Nakayama, Tatsuya Okuzumi, Yutaka Matsuda | Yutaka Matsuda | Ajinomoto Co., Inc., Japan | Journal of Medicinal Chemistry | 46 | 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c01251 |
| 15 | Assessing antibody and nanobody nativeness for hit selection and humanization with AbNatiV | Aubin Ramon, Montader Ali, Misha Atkinson, Alessio Saturnino, Kieran Didi, Cristina Visentin, Stéfano Ricagno, Xing Xu, Matthew Greenig, Pietro Sormanni | Pietro Sormanni | University of Cambridge, United Kingdom | Nature Machine Intelligence | 44 | 10.1038/s42256-023-00778-3 |
| 16 | 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, Sarit Assouline, Laurie H Sehn, Stephen J Schuster, Sung-Soo Yoon, Dok Hyun Yoon, Matthew J Matasar, Francesc Bosch, Won Seog Kim, Loretta J Nastoupil, Ian W Flinn, Mazyar Shadman, Catherine Diefenbach, Chan Yoon Cheah, Connie Y Ma, Huang Huang, Antonia Kwan, Michael C Wei, Shen Yin, Nancy L Bartlett | Lihua E Budde | City of Hope National Medical Center, United States | Journal of Clinical Oncology | 44 | 10.1200/jco.23.02329 |
| 17 | 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, Francesca Petralia, Inês Alves, Eduarda Leite-Gomes, Bruno Cavadas, Ana M Dias, Catarina Moreira-Barbosa, Joana Revés, Renee M Laird, Mislav Novokmet, Jerko Štambuk, Siniša Habazin, Berk Turhan, Zeynep H Gümüş, Ryan Ungaro, Joana Torres, Gordan Lauc, Jean-Frederic Colombel, Chad K Porter, Salomé S Pinho | Salomé S. Pinho | University of Porto, Portugal | Nature Immunology | 43 | 10.1038/s41590-024-01916-8 |
| 18 | Conjugation Chemistry Markedly Impacts Toxicity and Biodistribution of Targeted Nanoparticles, Mediated by Complement Activation | Michael H Zaleski, Liam S Chase, Elizabeth D Hood, Zhicheng Wang, Jia Nong, Carolann L Espy, Marco E Zamora, Jichuan Wu, Lianne J Morrell, Vladimir R Muzykantov, Jacob W Myerson, Jacob S Brenner | Jacob W. Myerson, Jacob S. Brenner | University of Pennsylvania, United States | Advanced Materials | 43 | 10.1002/adma.202409945 |
| 19 | A humanized mouse that mounts mature class-switched, hypermutated and neutralizing antibody responses | Daniel P Chupp, Carlos E Rivera, Yulai Zhou, Yijiang Xu, Patrick S Ramsey, Zhenming Xu, Hong Zan, Paolo Casali | Paolo Casali | The University of Texas Long School of Medicine, United States | Nature Immunology | 42 | 10.1038/s41590-024-01880-3 |
| 20 | Spike structures, receptor binding, and immune escape of recently circulating SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.86, JN.1, EG.5, EG.5.1, and HV.1 sub-variants | Linjie Li, Kaiyuan Shi, Yuhang Gu, Zepeng Xu, Chang Shu, Dedong Li, Junqing Sun, Mengqing Cong, Xiaomei Li, Xin Zhao, Guanghui Yu, Songnian Hu, Hui Tan, Jianxun Qi, Xiaopeng Ma, Kefang Liu, George F Gao | George F. Gao | Chinese Academy of Sciences, China | Structure | 42 | 10.1016/j.str.2024.06.012 |

## Topic trends

### 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*

### 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*

## 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
```