Cormac is not a llama like the others: this friendly camelid could advance research against Covid-19, the disease caused by infection with the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus.
Indeed: a team of researchers from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS – in the United States) has just discovered that certain small molecules produced by the immune system of camels could limit the risk of developing Covid-19, but also improve early detection of viral particles. The following are therefore concerned: llamas, but also dromedaries, camels and alpacas.
Specific antibodies that could “block” the coronavirus
American researchers, under the direction of two neuroscientists, have thus repeatedly inoculated a “harmless” version of the Sars-Cov-2 virus into a llama called Cormac. After 28 days, scientists found that 13 “anti-Covid” molecules had developed in the animal’s body.
Among these proteins (which one calls “nanobodies” in medical language), the molecule NIH-CoVnb-112 is particularly promising since it seems to act as a “shield” protecting the cells of the organism against the virus Sars-Cov -2. “These results are an encouraging starting point for future research: these proteins could allow the development of a treatment against Covid-19“explained Thomas Esparza, co-author of this work published in the specialized journal Scientific Reports.
This is not the first time that camelids have been called upon to fight an epidemic of coronavirus: in 2016, Winter, a Belgian llama, had thus been injected with viral particles of the MERS coronavirus, at the origin of an epidemic. in the Middle East in 2012. He too had developed specific antibodies, potentially effective against the disease.
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