Protein found in Camels and llamas Could Protect Your Brain

Today’s medicine has come a long way in treating medical conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer. Many people are living longer and enjoying a better quality of life.

But this is not the case for some diseases, at least not yet. While more effective treatments for brain disorders like Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia are being researched around the world, these conditions continue to affect one-in-three people according to the World Health Organization. Now help could be coming from very unlikely places; nanobodies from camels and llamas.

What are nanobodies?
In new research from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France that was published in Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, scientists found that that these species produce very small immune proteins or nanobodies that can cross the brain barrier, something most drugs cannot do, according to a undefined.

While nanobodies were first discovered in the 1990s by Belgian scientists who were studying the immune systems of camels and llamas (known as camelids). They have not been found in any other species of mammals.

“Camelid nanobodies open a new era of biologic therapies for brain disorders and revolutionize our thinking about therapeutics,” co-corresponding author Philippe Rondard of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Montpellier said in the press release. “We believe they can form a new class of drugs between conventional antibodies and small molecules.” 

Nanobodies are easy to produce and engineer and can be adjusted to their specific targets compared to conventional antibodies. Plus, due to their small size, nanobodies can potentially be developed into more effective treatments for brain disorders.

Potential Treatments
Previously, scientists did not believe that nanobodies could be used to treat brain disorders because people’s kidneys would eliminate them, reported ScienceAlert. But since animal studies and the new French research was unveiled, evidence is growing that engineered nanobodies can cross the brain barrier to eliminate tau and amyloid beta in Alzheimer’s patients.

But much more research is needed before these drugs can be used on people. Scientists must evaluate their stability and learn how they are crossing the brain barrier, and how long they last to ensure the correct dosage, functional genomicist Pierre-André Lafon told ScienceAlert.

“Our lab has already started to study these different parameters for a few brain-penetrant nanobodies and has recently shown that conditions of treatment are compatible with chronic treatment,” he added.

Treatments for these chronic brain disorders look very promising and may be available in the near future. It shows just how interconnected humankind and the animal world are. That’s why conserving species is so important.

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