Alpacas Could be the Secret Weapon Against COVID-19

University of Kentucky College of Medicine researchers are using the special antibodies made by alpacas, called nanobodies, to help understand the novel coronavirus and potentially develop a treatment that could protect people from being infected.

Nanobodies are smaller and more stable types of antibodies taken from the immune systems of camelids – which include camels, llamas and alpacas. Nanobodies could be more effective at fighting the disease because their tiny size gives them the ability to fit into spaces on viral proteins that regular antibodies have a hard time penetrating.

“The idea is that nanobodies are small enough to access small pockets on SARS-CoV-2’s spike proteins, which is the part of the virus that attaches to host cells. A nanobody that could block the binding of the spike protein to its cellular receptor could be an effective treatment for COVID-19,” said Sidney Whiteheart, co-lead of the study

With the help of alpacas Big Boy, Blue Eyes and Emperor, Hersh and Whiteheart’s research team is generating nanobodies that can bind to the spike protein and therefore, neutralize the virus. The alpaca trio have been immunized with isolated proteins from SARS-CoV-2 and then researchers collect samples of their blood containing nanobodies produced by their immune systems. In the lab, the nanobodies are extracted, tested, and reproduced at a larger scale for use in research and for therapeutic development.

Read the full story from University of Kentucky here.