Leveraging single B cell antibody platforms to develop countermeasures against animal viral diseases: recent advances and future perspectives

The discovery and application of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have fundamentally revolutionized clinical medicine, driving significant paradigm shifts in disease prevention, precise diagnosis and targeted treatment. The demand for high-affinity antibodies continues to surge, yet traditional discovery platforms such as hybridoma and phage display suffer from low efficiency, disrupted native pairing, and time-consuming workflows. Single B cell antibody technology overcomes these limitations by directly retrieving naturally paired heavy and light chain sequences from antigen-specific B cells, thereby preserving authentic affinity and specificity. Following its remarkable success in combating human emergencies like COVID-19, this platform is now being rapidly adapted to veterinary viral diseases, a critical effort under the “One Health” framework to safeguard both animal and public health. This review systematically outlines the core principles and workflows of single B cell-based mAb discovery. It then summarizes recent advances in applying this technology to viruses that infect animals and zoonotic viruses, emphasizing how native antibody repertoires have been harnessed to generate high-affinity mAbs. Ultimately, the article concludes with a discussion of current technical challenges, proposing future research directions to improve both the accessibility and efficacy of veterinary immunotherapeutics.