A new treatment for COVID-19 was revealed this month in research journal Cell. The unlikely contributor to the study? A chocolate-coloured llama with enviably long eyelashes and a great immune system.
Winter, the llama in question, is currently minding her own business on a farm in the Belgian countryside. She was thrust into the spotlight after a group of scientists used her antibodies to create a therapy which neutralised COVID-19 in the lab. To do this, the researchers made use of a particular type of antibody from Winter’s blood called a ‘nanobody’. Nanobodies are about half the size of a human antibody and are uniquely produced by llamas and their close relatives.
The team is interested in developing an ‘antibody therapy’ which would involve directly treating patients with protective antibodies.
These bespoke antibodies bind to the ‘spikes’ which decorate the outer coat of the virus, preventing it from infecting new cells. If successful, this kind of treatment could provide immediate immunity to vulnerable people or reduce the severity of the disease in those already infected.
The tiny size of the nanobody means that it can bind more easily into the virus’s nooks and crannies. Its size really matters. The therapy could be turned into a fine mist inhaled by patients to cover their lungs – the site of infection.
The researchers, based at the University of Texas in the US and Ghent University in Belgium, began this work in 2016 in response to the SARS and MERS coronavirus epidemics. They had immunised Winter with proteins from these two viruses and were working with the nanobodies that she produced in response. When news of the pandemic broke, the team quickly tested to see if Winter’s antibody would also bind the spike protein of this new coronavirus. Excitingly, it did.
Inspired, the team linked together two copies of the nanobody to engineer a new antibody which bound SARS-CoV-2 with greater strength. Further lab studies revealed that, as hoped, this antibody was capable of neutralising COVID-19.
The therapy will be subject to more trials and is probably a year away from being widely available, but initial results are promising. Collaborators have suggested that, if it works, Winter should have a statue erected in her likeness.
“I don’t know if Winter would appreciate [the statute] as much as maybe an apple, but we’ll see,” Says Daniel Wrapp, the PhD student who worked on the paper. “We’ll definitely have to celebrate her somehow.”
Did you know?
• There are species of wasps which are as small as amoebas (single-celled organisms).
• A man in Brazil has lived in a sandcastle he created for the past 22 years; the man is called King Marcio.
• In the 1960s, Brazil and France almost went to war after a debate about fishing rights and a disagreement about whether lobsters crawl or swim.
• In Utah, it is illegal to wear a hat in your driving licence photo, but you can have a photo of you wearing a colander on your head for religious reasons.
• The person who invented the lie detector married the first person ever to be interrogated by his invention.
For more trivia, see: www.um.edu.mt/think.
Sound bites
• A new species of parasitic fungus has been discovered through Twitter. Professor Ana Sofia Reboleira of the National Natural History Museum of Denmark was scrolling through her Twitter feed when she saw a picture of an American millipede with curious spots along its body.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200515115650.htm
• Scientists have located a brain region that ‘profoundly’ shuts down pain. Scientists working on mice at Duke University discovered a brain region near the amygdala which if deactivated can turn off the detection of pain.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200518145008.htm
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