| abstract |
The subject invention provides, for example, a novel approach to specifically induce intranasal and/or oral mucosal as well as humoral antibody response by administrating a mucosal delivery pentabody complex (MDPC). The MDPC is a complex formed by mixing a target antigen and a mucosal delivery pentabody (MDP) that has a strong affinity to the target antigen. The MDP is a fusion protein of a single domain antibody (sdAb; which binds to the target antigen specifically) to a pentamerization domain (which can include the B-subunit of an AB5 toxin family, including the B subunit of cholera toxin (CT) or heat-labile toxin (LT)). The pentamerization domain can self-assemble into a pentamer, through which a pentameric single domain antibody, or a pentabody, is formed. |