Japanese researchers develop alpaca-derived antibody to fight Omicron

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Japanese researchers develop alpaca-derived antibody to fight Omicron

Researchers developed an alpaca-derived antibody that could lead to a cheaper and more effective therapeutic option for the Omicron variant of the novel coronaviruses.

The team from Kyoto University and other institutions said on July 14 they created a tiny antibody based on a specialized antibody found in alpacas.

Akifumi Takaori, a professor of medicine at Kyoto University, said that they will proceed with animal experiments to develop a new type of inhalant.

While antibodies are usually made up of proteins called heavy H and light L chains, alpacas and other Camelidae species can produce ones consisting exclusively of H-chains.

These antibodies are known as VHH antibodies, or nanobodies, which are smaller, easier to modify and more stable.

The team has been working on an antibody that can work against variants of the novel coronavirus based on alpaca's VHH antibodies.

The researchers looked at 20 million candidate antibodies from kept alpacas, and selected six types that attach themselves strongly to spike proteins, which viruses use to invade cells.

One of these antibodies proved to be more effective than conventional treatment-purpose antibodies in stopping the Omicron variant from sneaking into cells. It succeeded in inhibiting Alpha and other mutations.

An electron microscope study showed that the antibody is bound to deep grooves of spike proteins. Human antibodies are too large to fit these grooves, which are believed to rarely mutate.

The joint findings of Kyoto University, Osaka University, Yokohama City University, the University of Tokyo and Cognano Inc. were published in the online edition of the British scientific journal Communications Biology at https: www.nature.