Nomenclature of monoclonal antibodies

List of stems for
monoclonal antibody nomenclature (revision 2022)[1][2][3][4]
Prefix Target substem Stem
meaning meaning
variable -ami- serum amyloid protein
(SAP)/amyloidosis (pre-substem) 		-bart artificial antibody
-ba- bacterial -ment fragment (derived from a variable domain)
-ci- cardiovascular -mig multi-immunoglobulin (e.g. BsMAb)
-de- metabolic or endocrine pathways -tug unmodified immunoglobulin
-eni- enzyme inhibition
-fung- fungal
-gro- skeletal muscle mass related growth factors
and receptors (pre-substem)
-ki- cytokine and cytokine receptor
-ler- allergen
-ne- neural
-os- bone
-pru- immunosuppressive
-sto- immunostimulatory
-ta- tumor
-toxa- toxin
-vet- veterinary use (sub-stem)
-vi- viral

The nomenclature of monoclonal antibodies is a naming scheme for assigning generic, or nonproprietary, names to monoclonal antibodies. An antibody is a protein that is produced in B cells and used by the immune system of humans and other vertebrate animals to identify a specific foreign object like a bacterium or a virus. Monoclonal antibodies are those that were produced in identical cells, often artificially, and so share the same target object. They have a wide range of applications including medical uses.[5]

This naming scheme is used for both the World Health Organization's International Nonproprietary Names (INN)[6] and the United States Adopted Names (USAN)[7] for pharmaceuticals. In general, word stems are used to identify classes of drugs, in most cases placed word-finally. All monoclonal antibody names assigned until 2021 end with the stem -mab; newer names have different stems. Unlike most other pharmaceuticals, monoclonal antibody nomenclature uses different preceding word parts (morphemes) depending on structure and function. These are officially called substems and sometimes erroneously infixes, even by the USAN Council itself.[7]

The scheme has been revised several times: in 2009, in 2017, in 2021, and in 2022.[1][2][8][4]

  1. ^ a b World Health Organization (November 2021), New INN monoclonal antibody (mAb) nomenclature scheme: Geneva, November 2021 (PDF), archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-11-09, retrieved 2021-11-09.
  2. ^ a b World Health Organization (2021-10-31), New INN monoclonal antibody (mAb) nomenclature scheme: International Nonproprietary Names scheme for monoclonal antibody (mAb), archived from the original on 2021-11-09, retrieved 2021-11-09.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference WHO_2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference 2022 revision was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Janeway was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference WHO_1997 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference AMA_2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ World Health Organization (2017-05-26), Revised monoclonal antibody (mAb) nomenclature scheme: Geneva, 26 May 2017 (PDF), archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-06-05, retrieved 2021-11-09.