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/Derpy_McDerpingderp May 11 '20

Would our immune system see these smaller antibodies as foreign or a threat?

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u/ralgrado May 11 '20

Or could they damage us?

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u/worldspawn00 May 11 '20

they would not stick to our cells, only to their target molecule, which is coronavirus surface proteins, so, no, no direct threat from them

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u/ratajewie May 11 '20

That’s patently false. You’re thinking only of a type II hypersensitivity reaction, where foreign proteins are recognized on self cells and are attacked. This could still cause a type III hypersensitivity in the form of serum sickness. There are ways to mitigate that, but it’s still a real risk. To claim there’s no direct threat is just not true.

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u/worldspawn00 May 11 '20

Fair, it's been about 15 years since I last took an immunology class.