{"id":3397,"date":"2025-01-14T04:47:55","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T04:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/?p=3397"},"modified":"2025-01-14T04:47:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T04:47:58","slug":"the-surprising-impact-of-winter-the-llama-on-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/book-reviews-summary\/the-surprising-impact-of-winter-the-llama-on-science\/","title":{"rendered":"The Surprising Impact of Winter the Llama on Science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Number of words: 699<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antibodies from Winter, a 4-year-old llama with great eyelashes, have neutralized coronavirus and other infections in lab experiment.

Winter is a 4-year-old chocolate-colored llama with spindly legs, ever-so-slightly askew ears and envy-inducing eyelashes. Some scientists hope she might be an important figure in the fight against the novel coronavirus.

She is not a superpowered camelid. Winter was simply the lucky llama chosen by researchers in Belgium, where she lives, to participate in a series of virus studies involving both SARS and MERS. Finding that her antibodies staved off those infections, the scientists posited that those same antibodies could also neutralize the new virus that causes Covid-19. They were right, and published their results Tuesday in the journal Cell.

Scientists have long turned to llamas for antibody research. In the last decade, for example, scientists have used llamas\u2019 antibodies in H.I.V. and influenza research, finding promising therapies for both viruses.

Humans produce only one kind of antibody, made of two types of protein chains \u2014 heavy and light \u2014 that together form a Y shape. Heavy-chain proteins span the entire Y, while light-chain proteins touch only the Y\u2019s arms. Llamas, on the other hand, produce two types of antibodies. One of those antibodies is similar in size and constitution to human antibodies. But the other is much smaller; it\u2019s only about 25 percent the size of human antibodies. The llama\u2019s antibody still forms a Y, but its arms are much shorter because it doesn\u2019t have any light-chain proteins.

This more diminutive antibody can access tinier pockets and crevices on spike proteins \u2014 the proteins that allow viruses like the novel coronavirus to break into host cells and infect us \u2014 that human antibodies cannot. That can make it more effective in neutralizing viruses.

Llamas\u2019 antibodies are also easily manipulated, said Dr. Xavier Saelens, a molecular virologist at Ghent University in Belgium and an author of the new study. They can be linked or fused with other antibodies, including human antibodies, and remain stable despite those manipulations.

This antibody is a genetic characteristic llamas share with all camelids, the family of mammals that also includes alpacas, guanacos and dromedaries.

Sharks have these smaller antibodies, too, but they \u201care not a great experimental model, and are a lot less cuddly than llamas,\u201d said Daniel Wrapp, a graduate student affiliated with the University of Texas at Austin and Dartmouth College, and a co-author of the new research. Dr. Saelens said that llamas are domesticated, easy to handle and less stubborn than many of their camelid cousins, although, \u201cif they don\u2019t like you, they\u2019ll spit.\u201d

In 2016, Dr. Saelens, Mr. Wrapp and Dr. Jason McLellan, a structural virologist at the University of Texas at Austin, and other researchers looked to llamas \u2014 and, specifically, Winter \u2014 to find a smaller llama antibody \u201cthat could broadly neutralize many different types of coronavirus,\u201d Dr. McLellan says

They injected Winter with spike proteins from the virus that caused the 2002-03 SARS epidemic as well as MERS, then tested a sample of her blood. And while they couldn\u2019t isolate a single llama antibody that worked against both viruses, they found two potent antibodies that each fought separately against MERS and SARS.

The researchers were writing up their findings when the new coronavirus began to make headlines in January. They immediately realized that the smaller llama antibodies \u201cthat could neutralize SARS would very likely also recognize the Covid-19 virus,\u201d Dr. Saelens said.

It did, the researchers found, effectively inhibiting the coronavirus in cell cultures.

The researchers are hopeful the antibody can eventually be used as a prophylactic treatment, by injecting someone who is not yet infected to protect them from the virus, such as a health care worker. While the treatment\u2019s protection would be immediate, its effects wouldn\u2019t be permanent, lasting only a month or two without additional injections.

This proactive approach is at least several months away, but the researchers are moving toward clinical trials. Additional studies may also be needed to verify the safety of injecting a llama\u2019s antibodies into human patients.

\u201cThere is still a lot of work to do to try to bring this into the clinic,\u201d Dr. Saelens said. \u201cIf it works, llama Winter deserves a statue.\u201d

Excerpted from\u00a0<\/em>https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/06\/science\/llama-coronavirus-antibodies.html<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Number of words: 699 Antibodies from Winter, a 4-year-old llama with great eyelashes, have neutralized coronavirus and other infections in lab experiment. Winter is a 4-year-old chocolate-colored llama with spindly legs, ever-so-slightly askew ears and envy-inducing eyelashes. Some scientists hope she might be an important figure in the fight against the novel coronavirus. She is … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Surprising Impact of Winter the Llama on Science - BullsEye<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/book-reviews-summary\/the-surprising-impact-of-winter-the-llama-on-science\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Surprising Impact of Winter the Llama on Science - BullsEye\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Number of words: 699 Antibodies from Winter, a 4-year-old llama with great eyelashes, have neutralized coronavirus and other infections in lab experiment. 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