An antibody that is produced (e.g., via monoclonal antibody techniques) in response to a carefully selected antigen (e.g., target molecule in bloodstream, or molecule involved in chemical reaction of interest) which itself catalyzes the “splitting” of a molecule in the bloodstream (e.g., heroin into two harmless small molecules) or mimics:
- Restriction endonucleases that cleave (cut) proteins or DNA molecules precisely at specific locations on those molecules
- Restriction endoglycosidases that are capable of cleaving oligosaccharides or polysaccharide molecules precisely at specific locations on those molecules
- Transition state chemical complex in the chemical reaction that is to be catalyzed—resultant antibody acts both as an antibody (to the selected transition-state-complex antigen) and as a catalyst (for the chemical reaction possessing that selected transition state chemical complex)
This catalyst (enzyme) thus possesses the remarkable specificity of an antibody (i.e., specific only to the desired transition-state reactant) which holds the potential to yield chemical reaction products of greater purity than those achieved via current (less specific) catalysts. Because the immune system will (in theory) produce an antibody to virtually every molecule of sufficient size to be detected by the immune system (i.e., 6 to 34 Angstroms), it should be possible to raise catalytic antibodies for a large number of industrial chemical reactions that are currently catalyzed via conventional (less specific) catalysts.