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Llama Antibodies Could Help in Fight Against Coronavirus
羊驼抗体有助于对抗冠状病毒
Llama antibodies could soon be playing a part in the worldwide fight against COVID-19, if tests being done by a Belgian company live up to their early results.
如果比利时公司的试验与早期结果相符，那羊驼抗体可能很快就会在全球抗击新冠肺炎的战斗中发挥作用。
Researchers from the VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology in Ghent say antibodies taken from a llama named Winter have reduced the spread of coronavirus infections, including variants, in laboratory testing.
根特VIB-UGent医学生物技术中心的研究人员表示，从一只名为“温特”的羊驼身上提取的抗体在实验室测试中减少了冠状病毒感染的传播，变种包括在内。
Dominique Tersago is chief medical officer of ExeVir, a company that works with VIB-UGent.
多米尼克·特萨戈是与VIB-UGent合作的ExeVir公司的首席医疗官。
Tersago described the technology as a possible "game-changer," which means something that has a big, good effect on a situation.
特萨戈将这项技术描述为可能的“游戏规则改变者”，意思是对某种情况有巨大且良好的影响。
The technology's aim is to help rather than replace vaccines. It could possibly be used to help protect people with weaker immune systems and treat infected people in hospitals.
这项技术旨在提供帮助，而不是取代疫苗。它可能被用来帮助保护免疫系统较弱的人，并在医院治疗感染者。
Unusually small, llama antibodies are able to attach, or bind, to part of the virus's protein spike. Tersago said, "at the moment we're not seeing mutations of a high frequency anywhere near where the binding site is."
羊驼的抗体异常小，能够附着或结合在病毒的部分蛋白质突刺上。特萨戈表示，“目前我们在结合位点附近没有看到高频突变。”
The antibodies also showed "strong neutralization activity" against the highly infectious Delta variant, she added.
她补充表示，这些抗体对高传染性的“德尔塔”变种也显示出的“很强的中和活性”。
Neutralization means to stop something from being effective or harmful.
中和指阻止某物有效或有害。
Researchers expect tests in healthy volunteers to be similarly effective.
研究人员希望在健康志愿者身上进行的测试同样有效。
The tests began last week in partnership with Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB.
这项测试于上周开始，与比利时制药公司UCB合作进行。
Along with other llamas and members of the camel family, Winter produces antibodies that are smaller, easier to reproduce and have more uses than those of other mammals, said VIB-UGent group leader Xavier Saelens.
VIB-UGent小组负责人泽维尔·塞伦表示，与其他羊驼和骆驼家族成员一样，“温特”也会产生比其他哺乳动物更小，更容易繁殖，用途更广泛的抗体。
"Their small size... allows them to reach targets, reach parts of the virus that are difficult to access with conventional antibodies," he said.
他说，“因为尺寸小，所以它们能够到达靶点，到达常规抗体难以接近的病毒部分。”
Conventional means common, ordinary or usual.
常规指常见、普通或平常。
The current research follows studies from 2016 into llama antibodies to help deal with the SARS and MERS coronaviruses. France's Sanofi paid $4.6 billion for Ablynx, a Ghent-based medical company that does llama antibody research, in 2018.
在开展当前研究之前，研究人员在2016年曾对帮助应对非典和中东呼吸综合征等冠状病毒疾病的羊驼抗体进行了研究。2018年，法国赛诺菲公司斥资46亿美元收购了总部位于根特、从事羊驼抗体研究的医疗公司Ablynx。
Winter, whose antibodies can now be reproduced in the lab, is enjoying retirement in a private art and animal park in Genk.
“温特”的抗体现在可以在实验室复制，这只羊驼现在正在亨克的一个私人艺术和动物公园享受退休生活。
I'm John Russell.
约翰·拉塞尔报道。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
