Synthetic binding agents for limiting permeation through mucus

Abstract

To provide methods and compositions (including compositions of engineered / synthetic binding agents) for enhancing agglutination, enchainment and / or muco-trapping of a target, i.e., reducing the fraction of target entities that could permeate through mucus, including pathogens and sperm.SOLUTION: Provided are synthetic binding agents for reducing the fraction of targets that can permeate through mucus and / or freely divide, and methods of reducing mucosal permeation and / or free division of a target using these synthetic binding agents. The synthetic binding agent comprises a human or humanized Immunoglobulin G (IgG) having a pair of Fab domains, and enhances agglutination of the target in the subject's mucus to reduce the mobility of the target to less than about 50% relative to its native mobility in mucus.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1A

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