1. Academic Validation
  2. Biodistribution of Filamentous Plant Virus Nanoparticles: Pepino Mosaic Virus versus Potato Virus X

Biodistribution of Filamentous Plant Virus Nanoparticles: Pepino Mosaic Virus versus Potato Virus X

  • Biomacromolecules. 2019 Jan 14;20(1):469-477. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.8b01365.
Duc H T Le 1 Eduardo Méndez-López 2 Chao Wang 3 1 Ulrich Commandeur 4 Miguel A Aranda 2 Nicole F Steinmetz 3 5 6 7 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Biomedical Engineering , Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine , Cleveland , Ohio 44106 , United States.
  • 2 Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CEBAS)-CSIC, Campus Universitario de Espinardo , 30100 Murcia , Spain.
  • 3 Department of NanoEngineering , University of California, San Diego , La Jolla , California 92093 , United States.
  • 4 Department of Molecular Biology , RWTH-Aachen University , Aachen 52064 , Germany.
  • 5 Moores Cancer Center , University of California, San Diego , La Jolla , California 92093 , United States.
  • 6 Department of Radiology , University of California, San Diego , La Jolla , California 92093 , United States.
  • 7 Department of Bioengineering , University of California, San Diego , La Jolla , California 92093 , United States.
Abstract

Nanoparticles with high aspect ratios have favorable attributes for drug delivery and bioimaging applications based on their enhanced tissue penetration and tumor homing properties. Here, we investigated a novel filamentous viral nanoparticle (VNP) based on the Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV), a relative of the established platform Potato virus X (PVX). We studied the chemical reactivity of PepMV, produced fluorescent versions of PepMV and PVX, and then evaluated their biodistribution in mouse tumor models. We found that PepMV can be conjugated to various small chemical modifiers including fluorescent probes via the amine groups of surface-exposed lysine residues, yielding VNPs carrying payloads of up to 1600 modifiers per particle. Although PepMV and PVX share similarities in particle size and shape, PepMV achieved enhanced tumor homing and less nonspecific tissue distribution compared to PVX in mouse models of triple negative breast Cancer and ovarian Cancer. In conclusion, PepMV provides a novel tool for nanomedical research but more research is needed to fully exploit the potential of plant VNPs for health applications.

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