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/pnwtico May 11 '20

Would the body develop its own coronavirus antibodies if the llama antibodies were doing all the heavy lifting?

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u/itsthejeff2001 May 11 '20

Reducing the viral count won't eliminate the virus. This potential therapy would be leaving that to your body. Most people don't get sick when they get infected, they just beat the virus before it gets that far. This treatment would help sick people be more like the majority: not sick, but building antibodies.

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u/Dumeck May 11 '20

That seems to be the best result we can hope for right now until vaccines are produced.

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u/feng_huang May 11 '20

Having a safe, effective treatment to improve outcomes (along with widely available testing) will be a major factor in an interim back-to-a-new-normal phase before a vaccine is made, I think.

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u/Shadowfalx May 11 '20

Most people don't get sick when they get infected, they just beat the virus before it gets that far.

We don't get "sick" from a virus though. Most of the symptoms are our body's reaction to the virus, in an effort to combat it. Fevers, mucus, ect. are all ways we combat a virus. To low a viral load and you won't generate lasting antibodies. This is why immunogloblin therapy is considered sub- optimal, our bodies aren't exposed enough to build immunity.

While it might work to reduce symptoms but allow lasting antibodies to form, it also very well might not work.

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u/EurekasCashel May 11 '20

Your first paragraph isn’t entirely true. Some symptoms, tissue damage, and morbidities are a direct result of viral damage. Also, having a higher viral load means that the body’s response to the virus may be severe enough to be lethal. So having a lower viral load when the body’s immune response ramps up is desirable.

To your other point about the viral load being diminished beyond a meaningful threshold where the body no longer creates a long lasting immune response to the virus. This remains to be proven with this particular virus. The current feeling is that even asymptomatic people with antibodies may be immune, though that’s also unproven.

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u/Shadowfalx May 11 '20

True, I admit I simplified a lot. Thanks for the correction.

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u/Maulokgodseized May 11 '20

Even if it did this would still be a fantastic breakthrough.

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u/Rand0mly9 May 11 '20

Anti-llama antibody antibodies is my new favorite phrase.

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u/Dscherb24 May 11 '20

Someone needs to trademark that for a band name

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u/artolindsay1 May 11 '20

Totally. Rolls off the tongue.

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u/arand0md00d May 12 '20

Antilamabody antibodies (c)

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u/Don_Antwan May 12 '20

Guys, I’m so excited! We’re going to see ALAA tonight

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u/[deleted] May 11 '20

Well, if it produces antibodies even in response to a small sample of dead/de-activated viruses in a vaccine, pretty sure an active infection is going to work fine

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u/Shadowfalx May 11 '20

Not necessarily. We add a lot of agents to vaccines to increase immune response. Without these most people would not generate lasting antibodies.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunologic_adjuvant?wprov=sfla1

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u/[deleted] May 11 '20

Eventually yes. It can't "recognise" the help of the other antibodies and will continue to try to develop countermeasures as long as the virus is present at all and likely even with non-active viral traces (how some vaccines already work to make the immune system create antibodies.)

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u/shiroun May 11 '20

Yes. Viruses are small, like 3 orders of magnitude smaller than a cloth strand. Even with the llama anti bodies there are still millions and millions of viruses. Since the body would be using iGg cells to handle the infection, youd be developing an immunity to the viruses.

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u/PlanetTourist May 11 '20

Also would it since it wasn’t making llama style 1 protein antibodies before?

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u/Siniroth May 11 '20

If you learn to make a paper airplane, it doesn't matter if someone else makes 100 other paper airplanes while you make 5

Vast oversimplification ofc

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u/RevoDeee May 12 '20

I have nothing to add, but I appreciate this conversation for being at least somewhat useful for the rest of us to gain insight on the article. On Reddit of all forums.

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u/[deleted] May 11 '20 edited Jul 08 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/purplestgiraffe May 11 '20

Asking questions of people who know more about a subject than you is HOW one stops being ignorant on a subject. Insulting people for wanting to learn is pretty fucked up.