Are alpacas the key to fighting diseases like dementia and cancer?

SALT LAKE CITY — Researchers at Utah State University are raising alpacas to explore their potential in fighting diseases like cancer and dementia.

Professor Zhongde Wang with the Department of Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences, said alpacas, camels and llamas have unique immune systems with tiny antibodies that can reach places human antibodies cannot, such as the brain or cancer cells. However, those antibodies will take time to be ready for use.

“Because of the smaller size, (they are) more stable and can penetrate to the tissues where conditional antibodies cannot,” Wang said. 

Currently, the university researchers are working to modify alpaca embryos. 

“The human patient’s will recognize the foreign antibody and generate (an) immune response,” Wang said. 

The antibodies will need to be manipulated beforehand, which will take a while because they have to raise an alpaca from birth. Wang said they hope to have some more results this fall or winter.

“We were optimistic, but (there are) a lot of hurdles we need to overcome.”

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