Nanobodies Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Infection

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Nanobodies inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection:

Australian researchers have identified neutralising nanobodies that block the SARS-CoV-2 virus from entering cells in preclinical models.The discovery paves the way for further investigations into nanobody-based treatments for COVID-19.

Antibodies are key infection-fighting proteins in our immune system. An important aspect of antibodies is that they bind tightly and specifically to another protein.

Antibody-based therapies, or 'biologics', harness this property of antibodies, enabling them to bind to a protein involved in disease.

Nanobodies are unique antibodies - tiny immune proteins - produced naturally by alpacas in response to infection.

As part of the research, a group of alpacas in regional Victoria were immunised with a synthetic, non-infectious part of the SARS-CoV-2 'spike' protein to enable them to generate nanobodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Associate Professor Wai-Hong Tham, who led the research, said the establishment of a nanobody platform at WEHI allowed an agile response for the development of antibody-based therapies against COVID-19.

"The synthetic spike protein is not infectious and does not cause the alpacas to develop disease - but it allows the alpacas to develop nanobodies," she said.

"We can then extract the gene sequences encoding the nanobodies and use this to produce millions of types of nanobodies in the laboratory, and then select the ones that best bind to the spike protein."

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