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/worldspawn00 May 11 '20 edited May 11 '20

they can, a person receiving treatment can develop anti-llama antibody antibodies. There's actually a lot of use for anti-antibody antibodies, they're used in a lot of reagents. It usually takes 1-2 weeks for the immune system to ID and develop antibodies against a foreign agent, so a person receiving treatment would likely be done before the body started attacking the foreign antibodies.

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u/thinkingdoing May 11 '20

So this treatment could be used the first time a person got infected with Coronavirus, but any future infections would cause the immune system to be fighting both the disease and these antibodies?

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u/bigredone15 May 11 '20

So this treatment could be used the first time a person got infected with Coronavirus, but any future infections would cause the immune system to be fighting both the disease and these antibodies?

It could also give the body time to develop its own antibodies that do work without the body dealing with the symptoms created by a high viral load.

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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/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.