A novel strategy has been developed by researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The approach led to the discovery of multiple nanobodies that in cell cultures and mice effectively blocked infections. The findings could lead to new treatments for COVID-19.
Gerald McInerney, a professor at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, says that with the help of advanced laboratory techniques, they were able to identify a panel of nanobodies that very effectively neutralized several variant of the disease.
Despite the roll-out of vaccines and antivirals, the need for effective therapeutic against severe COVID-19 infection remains high. There are several advantages to the use of nanoparticles, which are fragments of antibodies that occur naturally in camelids and can be adapted for humans. They are easy to produce and have good biochemical properties.
The labs of Gerald McInerney and Ben Murrell at MTC have identified several potent nanobodies derived from an alpaca immunized with a vaccine.
The first report in Nature Communications describes a single nanobody named Fu2 that reduced the viral load of the disease in cell cultures and mice. The researchers found that Fu2 binding to two separate sites on the viral spike prevented the virus from entering the host cell. This part of the study was done in collaboration with Hrishikesh Das and Martin Hällberg.
The researchers combined a range of advanced laboratory techniques and computational methods to create a library of nanobodies described in detail.
The results show that in cell cultures and mice, there are additional nanobodies that cross-neutralize both the founder and the more distantly related SARS-CoV-1.
The first author of the novel says that the nanobody technology in the McInerney group represents promising therapeutic candidates.
The researchers are applying the same techniques to identify which of the nanobodies from this set are best able to destroy omicron.
The assistant professor says that once established, these libraries can be expanded and mined for anti-emerging variants.
More information: Leo Hanke et al, A bispecific monomeric nanobody induces spike trimer dimers and neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 in vivo, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27610-zScience Advances (22) shows that Multivariate mining of an alpaca immune repertoire identifies potent cross-neutralising SARS-CoV-2 nanobodies. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm0220
Journal information: Nature Communications , Science Advances Citation: Potent alpaca nanobodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2 variants (2022, March 25) retrieved 25 March 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-potent-alpaca-nanobodies-neutralize-sars-cov-.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
