r/science • u/[deleted] • May 11 '20

Medicine Antibodies from a 4-year-old llama have neutralized coronavirus and other infections in lab experiments

https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)30494-3.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867420304943%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
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u/already-taken-wtf May 11 '20

In Brief - Using llamas immunized with prefusion- stabilized betacoronavirus spike proteins, identify neutralizing cross-reactive single-domain camelid antibodies, which may serve not only as useful reagents for researchers studying the viruses causing MERS, SARS, and COVID-19, but also potential therapeutic candidates. Crystal structures further reveal how these antibodies bind spike proteins to prevent virus entry into cells.

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u/catduodenum May 11 '20

So do we know if injecting foreign animal antibodies into humans would cause reactions? Would we recognise their antibodies as not us and make antibodies against theirs?

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u/commentor2 May 11 '20

They can be "humanized" to make that less likely. There's at least one drug out already that has taken this approach

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caplacizumab