Antibodies from camels and alpacas can bring anticancer viruses straight to tumor cells, while leaving other types of cells uninfected, report researchers.
The researchers used human cells grown in the lab for the study. They say it demonstrates the possibility of directly delivering genetically engineered viruses to specific cells. The goal is to infect only cancer cells and then trigger the virus to replicate until the cells burst, killing them and releasing more of the targeted viruses.
The scientists showed that unlike human antibodies or those of most other animals, the antibodies of camels and alpacas survive the harsh environment inside cells and retain the ability to seek out targets, potentially solving a longstanding problem in the field of gene therapy.
“For decades, investigators have been putting human or mouse antibodies on viruses, and they haven’t worked—the antibodies would lose their targeting ability,” says senior author David T. Curiel, professor of radiation oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
“It was a technical problem. During replication, the virus is made in one part of the cell, and the antibody is made in another. To incorporate the two, the antibody is dragged through the internal fluid of the cell. This is a harsh environment for the antibodies, so they unfold and lose their targeting ability.”
Antibodies are proteins of the immune system that travel through the bloodstream and recognize potential threats to the body, whether bacteria, viruses or abnormal cells. Most antibodies have a characteristic Y shape. The tips of the Y form a “lock” that binds to a specific “key” carried by foreign bodies that the immune system should destroy.
