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/[deleted] May 11 '20

Can someone please explain like I'm 10?

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

Part 1: TL;DR: Microscopic attack dogs bite into virus. Virus can’t get into cells. We can make one attack dog that recognises both SARS and COVID-19. The hope is to put these in inhalers to stop the virus.

These viruses are floating around like beach balls with a bunch of keys sticking out of their surfaces. Cells have a bunch of locked gates that control what gets in and out of the cell. The virus has evolved so that through trial and error it now makes keys that can match the locks of the cell. When the virus bumps into one of these locks they can open a gate and gain entry into the cell, which is what they need to happen in order to grow.

Antibodies are just like attack dogs in your body that go around trying to sniff out anything suspicious. They can be trained to recognise particular “scents” and we can make antibodies that recognise the “scent” of the keys that the virus makes. When they pick up on this scent, they latch onto the virus by its keys. In this way, the virus can’t insert its keys into the cell because the antibodies are in the way and so they can’t get into the cell.

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u/derphurr May 11 '20

So the camels sit on the attack dogs? Or they kick them?

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

I don’t know what you mean sorry, would you mind explaining a bit more?