They are funny to look at, mild and intelligent: that was what we knew about alpacas until 1989. That year, two students discovered by chance one important feature that has long remained unknown. This and other species belonging to camelid family have "miniature" antibodies: smaller than ours and those of most mammals, they can reach even the most difficult targets. Researchers at Boston Children 's Hospital used the so called “nanobodies” to make CAR-T cells better at solid tumors. The study has been published in the journal PNAS.

Isn’t it ironic that members of the camelid family (camels, llamas, dromedaries) or sharks that are so bigger than we are, present antibodies that are smaller than ours? Just as curious is that these “miniature antibodies” first detected in 1993 are very interesting for a number of biotechnological applications and scientists think that they could lead to drugs for cancer and other diseases.