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IPFS News Link • Science, Medicine and Technology

Alpaca nanobodies target and dissolve root cause of chronic inflammation

• https://newatlas.com, By Nick Lavars

The breakthrough hinges on what are known as nanobodies, which when taken from the woolly mammals were shown to neutralize the alarm system for the immune system and, in doing so, treat excessive inflammation in unhealthy mice.

The research was carried out by scientists at Germany's University of Bonn and Brazil's University of São Paulo, who were taking aim at something they refer to as ASC specks. These are large molecular complexes made up of ASC proteins, which are critical to the immune response in human cells, acting as an alarm system when they sense an attack from a pathogen, for example, and banding together.

The resulting ASC specks trigger the accumulation of large numbers of messenger substances that call for help from the immune system, and also bust holes in the cell membrane, enabling the messenger molecules to escape and sound their alarm. But these pores also ultimately lead to the dramatic downfall of the cell.

"At some point, the cell basically explodes and empties its entire contents into the tissue," said study author Bernardo Franklin of the Institute of Innate Immunity at the University Hospital Bonn. "The messenger substances that are now abruptly released then act like a last great cry for help. This triggers the immune system to mount a strong inflammatory response that contains the infection."

Also among the materials released from the cells are the ASC specks, which can build up in the tissue and linger to have lasting effects.

"We have now been able to show in mice that their activity activates the immune system even after the threat has been averted," Franklin says. "This can result in chronic inflammation, which severely damages the tissue."

The researchers believe they have a countermeasure for the role of ASC specks in chronic inflammation, and this is where the alpacas come in. They are among only a handful of animals that produce single-domain antibodies as part of their immune defenses. Often called nanobodies, these are appealing to scientists for a number of reasons, including the fact that they are easier and cheaper to mass produce, and could bring new options to the table when it comes to treating disease.


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