Not Just for Yarn

There is an alpaca farm near our home in NJ that I love to visit. They raise alpacas, llamas, and yaks, and I always enjoy a visit there to see the animals and fondle the fiber.

But llamas may be more than cute faces and soft fiber! A study suggests that antibodies from llamas could help in the fight against COVID-19. 

"Researchers linked two copies of a special kind of antibody produced by llamas to create a new antibody that binds tightly to a key protein on the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This protein, called the spike protein, allows the virus to break into host cells. Initial tests indicate that the antibody blocks viruses that display this spike protein from infecting cells in culture."

This was interesting to me because virus' spike proteins are a crucial part of how viruses get into host cells and replicate. I did not know about the camelids' immune system producing antibodies similar to humans, plus smaller ones called nanobodies that can be used in an inhaler. This means that the protective antibodies could possibly be given directly to humans to lessen or prevent the disease, without waiting for the immune system to respond as is the case with a vaccine. The Science Daily article is here, and the pre-proof Cell article can be found here. (It's long and scientifically complex, but presents a promising idea.) I can't pretend to understand all of it, but I'm glad that there are scientists who are thinking outside of the box and being helped by adorable llamas.