Small but mighty – how nanobodies are fighting chronic inflammation

Researchers are using alpaca nanobodies to target and dissolve primary cause of chronic inflammation.

Researchers at the Universities of Bonn and S?o Paulo have succeeded in mitigating chronic inflammation in mice using customised “mini-antibodies” which have been derived from a rather unusual source – alpacas.

These nanobodies enabled them to dissolve molecular complexes in tissue that normally activate the?immune system. This research means that nanobodies produced may, in future, help to slow down unwanted inflammatory reactions that cause age-related diseases such as arthritis or neurodegeneration. The study is published in the journal?EMBO Molecular Medicine.

My take on this: When it comes to hotlines, our bodies have one of their own. Cells have a sophisticated alarm system called the inflammasome. The central component of the inflammasome is the (deep breath) Apoptosis-associated Speck-like protein containing a CARD (caspase recruitment domain) – usually shortened, for obvious reasons, to ASC protein.

Inflammasomes are innate immune system receptors and sensors that induce inflammation and they have been implicated in a host of inflammatory disorders.

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

Together with researchers from the?University of S?o Paulo, Franklin’s team has succeeded in preventing this undesirable effect – using the so-called nanobodies for this purpose.

Read the full article HERE.

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