The inspiration for the study came from tests conducted on a 4-year-old llama named 'Winter' that is currently living on a farm in the Belgian countryside.
Coronaviruses are covered in distinctive"spikes," special proteins that enable the virus to break into host cells. In initial laboratory experiments, the scientists found that the novel antibody was effective in stopping a"pseudotyped" version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from infecting cells in a culture.
In 2016, before the pandemic began, the researchers were conducting research into two other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV, which cause the diseases severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and Middle East respiratory syndrome respectively. Llamas and other camelids, such as alpacas, produce a special kind of antibody known collectively as"single-domain" antibodies. After taking blood samples from Winter, the team, found that one of these single-domain antibodies, known as VHH-72, bound tightly to the spike proteins on SARS-CoV-1 and prevented it from infecting cells in a culture.
As a result, the scientists joined together two copies of the antibody, in an attempt to help it bind more effectively to the SARS-CoV-2 spikes. According to the team, the newly engineered antibody is the first known to neutralize both SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2.
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