Llamas might save the World from Novel Coronavirus
According to experts, llamas can prove to be a key in treating COVID-19 positive patients. The antibodies found in llamas known as ‘nanobodies’ (due to their smaller size) have the ability to fight off coronavirus. A study conducted Rosalind Franklin Institute in Oxford University tested antibodies derived from llamas and announced that they have been shown to neutralise the SARS-CoV-2 virus in lab tests.
Llamas, camels and alpacas naturally produce quantities of small antibodies with a simpler structure that can be turned into nanobodies. The team of Rosalind Franklin Institute engineered the new nanobodies using a collection of antibodies taken from llama blood cells. They have shown that the nanobodies bind tightly to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, blocking it from entering human cells and stopping infection.
How llama antibodies could help treat COVID-19?
The entire world is now aware of the essential role played antibodies in increasing the immune system. Till now no vaccine has made its way to fight against COVID-19, and injecting antibodies is the only way to treat people. However, there is already evidence that antibody-rich blood, taken from people who have recently recovered from the coronavirus, can be used as a treatment, which is widely known as “Plasma Therapy”. But the key trick with this llama-derived antibody therapy is that the scientists can produce coronavirus-specific antibodies to order.
The nanobodies kill the virus binding or locking onto – what is known as the “spike protein” on the outside of the virus capsule; disabling it from gaining access to human cells.
