Treating Cystic Fibrosis And Cancer Using Synthetic Llama Antibodies

Llamas are known for very soft wool, but they can offer much more than that. They have amazing antibodies that, according to a 2018 study made by scientists from the United States, could be key towards making a universal flu vaccine. But that’s not all that their antibodies can offer.

Now, new research published in the journal Nature Methods has created a synthetic antibody inspired by llamas to stop the human body from destroying imperfect, but still functional proteins. The novel technology could be used to treat several conditions including cystic fibrosis, cancer and epilepsy.

Many genetic diseases result in mutated proteins being churned out by our cells, and while some of these are still able to carry out their function our bodies will ultimately destroy them. The imperfect proteins are marked by our cell’s quality control system with a peptide called ubiquitin. While this is a necessary cell function, preventing these proteins from being destroyed can sometimes be beneficial as while they are imperfect some are still capable of doing their job. Deubiquitinase enzymes (DUBs) can be employed to remove the “for destruction” tags but allowing them to remove tags from all imperfect proteins would be harmful and so such therapies need to be targeted.

Here is where our magical llama antibodies come into play, as study authors Henry Colecraft and his student, Scott Kanner, identified a means of targeting DUBs using nanobodies. Nanobodies are tiny antibodies which are produced by llamas, camels and alpacas, and they bind with their targets with uniquely reliable specificity. They are used in place of antibodies because antibodies’ function changes when acting inside cells, unlike nanobodies.

Learn more about this study over at IFL Science.

Cool! 

(Image Credit: Pezibear/ Pixabay)