Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco created ‘AeroNabs’, which they say, can better prevents humans from catching Covid-19. “AeroNabs’, which can be inhaled, could even be more effective than wearing PPE, scientists claim.
This is a completely synthetic, production-ready molecule that straitjackets the crucial SARS-CoV-2 machinery that allows the virus to infect our cells.
Used once a day, AeroNabs could provide powerful, reliable protection against SARS-CoV-2 until a vaccine becomes available. The research team is planning to manufacture the deice and make is commercially available. Clinical testing of AeroNabs are going on, and if found successful, AeroNabs will be available as an inexpensive, over-the-counter medication to prevent and treat COVID-19.
AeroNabs contains nanobodies, which are antibody-like immune proteins found in the blood of llamas, camels and alpacas.
But the nanobodies in the formula are synthetic and have been engineered to target SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the pandemic.
Nanobodies are so small that synthetic versions could be mass produced quickly, the researchers say.
Dr Peter Walter, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF and co-inventor, said: ‘Far more effective than wearable forms of personal protective equipment, we think of AeroNabs as a molecular form of PPE that could serve as an important stopgap until vaccines provide a more permanent solution to Covid-19.
‘For those who cannot access or don’t respond to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, AeroNabs could be a more permanent line of defense against Covid-19.’
Nanobodies were originally discovered in a Belgian lab in the late 1980s and have intrigued scientists worldwide ever since.
Researchers across the world have turned their attention to nanobodies, in hope that they can be tailored to neutralise the coronavirus.
Nanobodies have proven to work against similar coronaviruses in the past, including the one that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
“Though they function much like the antibodies found in the human immune system, nanobodies offer a number of unique advantages for effective therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2,” explained co-inventor Aashish Manglik, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of pharmaceutical chemistry who frequently employs nanobodies as a tool in his research on the structure and function of proteins that send and receive signals across the cell’s membrane.
Nanobodies are smaller than human antibodies. Since it is smaller than human bodies, scientists find it easier to be manipulated, Modifying it in the lab also involved less complicated process.
Not only the size, nanobodies also have a relatively structure. Hence, they are more stable than the antibodies of other mammals. Plus, unlike human antibodies, nanobodies can be easily and inexpensively mass-produced: scientists insert the genes that contain the molecular blueprints to build nanobodies into E. coli or yeast, and transform these microbes into high-output nanobody factories. The same method has been used safely for decades to mass-produce insulin.
But as Manglik noted, “nanobodies were just the starting point for us. Though appealing on their own, we thought we could improve upon them through protein engineering. This eventually led to the development of AeroNabs.”