Elissar News

“Winter” is the name of the Belgian Llama that could hold the key to treating the pandemic.

Back in 2016, “Winter” was just nine months old, scientists injected her with spike proteins, which are the proteins on the surface of the coronaviruses that allows them to break into host cells to infect them, then “Winter” was injected with MERS and SARS, and her immunity system produced antibodies and neutralized these viruses.

This procedure has been repeated this by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, the National Institutes of Health and Ghent University in Belgium using Sars-CoV-2 the infective agent in COVID-19, and they were able to isolate antibodies that could neutralize the virus, and published Tuesday their findings in the scientific journal Cell.

“That was exciting to me because I’d been working on this for years,” said Daniel Wrapp, one of the researchers and co-authors of the paper. “But there wasn’t a big need for a coronavirus treatment then. This was just basic research. Now, this can potentially have some translational implications, too.”

A llama’s immune system produces two types of antibodies when it detects pathogens, one similar to human antibodies and one that is about a quarter of the size,  and the small antibody is enough to be consumed through an inhaler. Researchers have now created a new antibody by linking two copies of the smaller one found in llamas, which they say blocks the novel coronavirus from infecting cells by binding to its spike protein. 

The antibodies produced by ‘Winter” were found to be effective in targeting the SARS virus’s spike protein, which allows it to bind to human cells.

“Nanobodies” the smaller type of antibodies produced by llamas, also called single-domain antibodies or, can be used in an inhaler, according to Wrapp, he added: “That makes them potentially really interesting as a drug for a respiratory pathogen because you're delivering it right to the site of infection”.

Further trials with hamsters or primates will be needed test the antibody, before using it in human trials.

While vaccines have to be administered a month or two before infection, researchers say antibody therapy can start working immediately, and will help lessen the severity of the illness in people who are already infected.

“Winter the llama”, four years old now, unaware of course of her importance to human beings, lives with around 130 other llamas and alpacas in a farm operated by Ghent University's Vlaams Institute for Biotechnologym in Belgium.