Antibodies in Llama Blood Could Hold Key to Developing COVID-19 Vaccine

Researchers from the Vlaams Institute for Biotechnology {(VIB) Ghent, Belgium} have proposed that antibodies found in the blood of the South American animal, llamas could hold the key to developing a vaccine for COVID-19. The researchers discovered the llama antibodies while previously researching HIV and believe that they could help to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19.

The antibodies found in llama blood are smaller than human antibodies, but have shown to be effective against MERS and SARS, which are close relatives of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This could make it possible to use the animal-based antibodies in nanotechnology as part of a delivery of antiviral activity into humans. American researchers have earlier used llama antibodies for developing a universal flu vaccine and discovered that they work effectively on a variety of flu viruses.

In addition to focusing on the llama, researchers across the world are also looking at ferrets and hamsters for a COVID-19vaccine candidate. For instance, South Korean researchers using ferrets as animal models for testing potential COVID-19 drugs in humans have found that the disease behaves in the same way in ferrets as it does in humans. The researchers found ferrets to be good candidates for research because the anatomic proportions of the ferret’s upper and lower respiratory tracts, the density of submucosal glands in the bronchial wall and the number of generations of terminal bronchioles reproduce the condition in the human respiratory tract. Similarly, researchers in Hong Kong experienced success with Syrian hamsters after their studies showed that hamsters displayed similar effects of the COVID-19 disease.

Despite the best efforts by researchers across the world for developing a COVID-19 vaccine candidate, data indicates that a vaccine will be unavailable for use until the end of 2020 or early 2021.

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Vlaams Institute for Biotechnology