Abstract: It is provided a method of treatment of a human or animal patient in need thereof to achieve a reduction of the viscosity of mucus of the patient which is carried out by administering a polyglycerol derivative having a linear or dendritic polyglycerol backbone and carrying at least one thiol group covalently bound to the polyglycerol backbone. It is further provided a method of treatment of a human or animal patient suffering from chronic sinusitis, asthma, chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, bronchiectasis, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, constipation, gastrointestinal malabsorption syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, steatorrhea or diarrhea by administering a polyglycerol derivative. Further specific thiol-functionalized polyglycerol derivatives and a corresponding manufacturing method are provided.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a nanostructure comprising: a) a nucleic acid scaffold; and b) at least two peptide moieties, wherein the at least two peptide moieties specifically bind to a molecule expressed on the surface of a virus and are attached to the nucleic acid scaffold, wherein the structure of the nucleic acid scaffold is selected from the group of: i) a linear nucleic acid scaffold, wherein the at least two peptide moieties are each attached at or near different ends of the nucleic acid scaffold; and ii) a branched nucleic acid scaffold, wherein the at least two peptide moieties are each attached to a different branch of the scaffold. The invention furthermore relates to the nanostructure of the invention for use as a medicament, and more specifically for use in the treatment of viral infections. The invention also relates to the nanostructure of the invention for the use in diagnostic purposes and in methods of detecting whether a virus is present in a sample.

Abstract: Influenza virus binding peptides and methods for using these peptides are disclosed. In an embodiment a peptide having from 8 to 40 amino acids includes a sequence X1-X2-X3-X4-Asp-X5-X6-X7 (SEQ ID NO:2), wherein X1 to X7 are selected from Ala, Asn, Asp, Arg, Cys, Gln, Glu, Gly, His, Ile, Leu, Lys, Met, Phe, Pro, Ser, Thr, Trp, Tyr and Val, and wherein SEQ ID NO:2 has at least 62.5% sequence identity and at most 87.5% sequence identity with the sequence Phe-Tyr-Asp-Tyr-Asp-Val-Phe-Tyr (SEQ ID NO:1).