British scientists have discovered that short antibodies made in llamas and camels, ie ‘nanobodies’, can kill coronavirus in humans.
It should be noted that the llama and the camel belong to the same family of animals and the ‘nano body’ discovered by the experts is similar in both of them.
Scientists at the Rosalind Franklin Institute, UK, initially inserted the novel coronavirus (SARS Cove 2) into a llama kept in a laboratory, but a special nanobody in the llama’s body tied the virus and prevented it from spreading further. ۔
The nanobody was isolated from the llamas and the next step was to test it on hamsters (rat-like animals) that had been infected with the Sars Cove 2 virus.
In hamsters, the nanobody showed the same performance as the lama.
“The nanobody obtained from the llama can be delivered directly to the lungs through the nose in the form of a spray, which is its greatest benefit,” said Dr. Raymond Owens, who oversaw the study. He is also the lead author of a report published in the latest issue of Nature Communications.
So far, antibodies to the coronavirus have been injected directly into the infected person’s blood.
These antibodies are added to the blood plasma of people who have recovered from being infected with the coronavirus.
It should also be noted that nanobodies are much smaller in size than normal antibodies, but research so far has found them to be effective against many viruses and microbes that are not affected by conventional antibodies.
Nanobodies were first discovered in 1989 during research on llamas and camels, and it took another 30 years to develop the first treatment.
