Winter the Llama: An Unlikely Hero in the Fight Against COVID-19

A new hero in the fight against COVID-19 has emerged: 4-year-old Winter, a llama that currently resides in the Belgian countryside. Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, the National Institutes of Health and Ghent University in Belgium have recently published a study on how antibodies derived from llamas could ultimately be turned into a drug with life-saving potential during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In a viral disease outbreak, antibody therapies can help to protect those most at risk of infection in our communities. “With antibody therapies, you’re directly giving somebody the protective antibodies and so, immediately after treatment, they should be protected. The antibodies could also be used to treat somebody who is already sick to lessen the severity of the disease,” said Jason McLellan, co-senior author of the paper and associate professor of molecular biosciences at the University of Texas.

Why llamas? Camelids (which include alpacas, camels and llamas) produce two forms of antibodies in response to invading pathogens such as viruses. While one resembles the protein structures of human antibodies, the other form is much smaller and unique to camelids — antibodies known as “nanobodies”. These single-domain antibodies are of particular interest to drug developers as they can be easily…