Virosome-masked ratiometric nanoprobes for in vivo dynamic imaging of influenza a virus infection

  • J Nanobiotechnology. 2026 Jul 21. doi: 10.1186/s12951-026-04819-y.
Ruiqi Ming  1 ,  Yue Wang  2 ,  Zewei Yan  3 ,  Shujun Liu  1 ,  Zhongjie Wang  1 ,  Hanlin Chen  1 ,  Yingjie Shi  2 ,  Yuantian Jing  1 ,  Rui Zhang  1 ,  Shasha Peng  1 ,  Jiajie Tian  1 ,  Yimei Pan  1 ,  Wenfeng Xu  2 ,  Pengfei Jin  4 ,  Li-Li Huang  5
Affiliations
  • 1. School of Medical Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, P. R. China.
  • 2. Department of Pharmacy, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Beijing Key Laboratory of Assessment of Clinical Drugs Risk and Individual Application, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100730, P. R. China.
  • 3. School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, 010022, P. R. China.
  • 4. Department of Pharmacy, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Beijing Key Laboratory of Assessment of Clinical Drugs Risk and Individual Application, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100730, P. R. China. [email protected].
  • 5. School of Medical Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, P. R. China. [email protected].
PMID: 42482242 DOI: 10.1186/s12951-026-04819-y
Abstract

In vivo fluorescent in situ visualization of viral Infection dynamics is crucial for elucidating the mechanisms of viral pathogenesis. However, current approaches lack sufficient specificity and sensitivity for spatiotemporal monitoring of viral Infection in vivo. Here, we proposed virosome-masked ratiometric nanoprobes (VMR-NPs) integrated with dual-stimuli-responsive near-infrared (NIR) Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) reporters that specifically recognize influenza A virus (IAV) viral RNA (vRNA) and apurinic/apyrimidinic Endonuclease 1 (APE1). Surface hemagglutinin (HA) envelope protein of IAV virosome endows VMR-NPs with enhanced host-cell association and IAV-like intracellular trafficking behavior. Following internalization, vRNA recognition together with APE1-assisted signal amplification modulates the ratiometric fluorescence output of VMR-NPs, enabling sensitive detection of infection-associated signal changes in vitro and in vivo. This study establishes an IAV virosome-masked sensing platform for imaging infection-associated IAV burden and provides a useful tool for studying virus-related biological processes.

Keywords
In situ monitoring; Ratiometric nanoprobe; Signal amplification; Spatiotemporal tracking; Virosome.
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