Camel Antibodies Used to Fight Trypanosomes

Belgian scientists say that small antibodies taken from the dromedary may prove useful in treating tropical parasites such as the African trypanosome, which causes sleeping sickness. Penetrating the dense, variable-specific surface glycoproteins that coat the organism, such antibodies may be able to zero in on conserved oligosaccharides hidden beneath. Serge Muyl-dermans and colleagues at the University of Brussels demonstrated its use as a diagnostic reagent for Trypanosoma brucei; by linking the antibody to an effector molecule, they showed that such an antibody could be used therapeutically. Muyldermans says that he thinks this holds great promise for the future.

Others who study tropical diseases doubt the wide applicability of such a technique. David Horn, lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, writes in an E-mail, "The broad relevance of such reagents is questionable, since I'm not aware of other parasites with such dense surface coats that would provide ...