Camel immunology: Bioscience research and potential applications

The Camelidae family (camels, llama, guanaco, alpaca, and vicuña) is well adapted to live in harsh environments, such as deserts or high altitudes. Besides the role as the ‘Ship of the Desert’, studies on camel immunology paved the way to understand the role of Camelid antibodies, also referred to as ‘Camelid Nanobodies’, which are small antibody fragments derived from camelid heavy chain antibodies through recombinant gene technology. Their exceptional physicochemical properties, possibility of humanization, and unique antigen recognition properties make them excellent candidates for the targeted delivery of biologically active components. Several different therapeutic approaches based on the novel camelid nanobodies have been developed to treat a wide range of diseases ranging from immune, bone, blood, and neurological disorders to infectious diseases and cancer. Many neutralizing VHHs that bind to different sites on the same target, including hidden antigenic sites, can be isolated from immunized or infected camelids, which can be engineered in various ways to improve their diagnostic and/or therapeutic properties and efficacy. Additionally, VHHs readily and rapidly penetrate tissues, even the brain, and it is likely that specific VHH-based constructs will be developed that can neutralize agents involved in bacterial, fungal, parasitic, or viral infections. In this review, we provide critical perspectives on camelid single-chain antibodies and prospective applications in the field of human health biosciences involving adoption as diagnostic and therapeutic agents.