This week scientists at Yale University have announced one of those
game-changing achievements that could change the future of medicine. And, probably, win a Nobel prize. They have synthesized mini-antibodies that can
function within the body and attack both cancer cells and disease-causing
agents.
An antibody is a highly complex macro-molecule, produced by the adaptive
division of the immune system. It’s a powerful bespoke weapon that will only
attack a single type of bacterium, a particular strain of virus or a cancer
cell with a particular genetic signature. They lock on to receptors on the
surface of the pathogens and disable them. Imagine them as tiny wheel clamps
that are individually designed for each new make of car that comes on the
market. One of the problems with antibody production is that it is not instant.
It takes the immune system several days or weeks to get its production line up
to speed and in a serious disease like Ebola, the patient can die before enough
antibodies are produced. Once the antibody template has been produced, it can
be used more swiftly whenever the particular threat re-appears.To work on
cancer cells the immune system first has to identify them as alien.
Antibodies are tiny and these new synthetic antibodies even smaller.
Picture a bespoke wheel clamp on a jumbo jet. But that might make them easier
to produce.
Currently there are just a few ways in which medicine can use antibodies:
Vaccines – in which the body is induced to create a new type of antibody
without becoming ill. New vaccines are hard to develop.
Extracting antibodies from blood of those previously infected. This is
being tried currently to treat Ebola.
Snake bite serum – produced by injecting animals with small amount of
venom and then extracting antibodies from blood serum.
Monoclonal antibodies – producing an individual antibody type in the
lab, using a complex biological system.
If simpler synthetic antibodies could be produced by a less laborious
process than monoclonal antibodies it would open the door to a wide range of
options in treating infectious diseases and cancers.
A ground breaking moment in immunology without a doubt.
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