Fusogenic Viral Protein-Based Near-Infrared Active Nanocarriers for Biomedical Imaging

An effective drug delivery system (DDS) relies on an efficient cellular uptake and faster intracellular delivery of theranostic agents, bypassing the endosomal mediated degradation of the payload. The use of viral nanoparticles (VNPs) permits such advancement, as the viruses are naturally evolved to infiltrate the host cells to deliver their genetic material. As a proof of concept, we bioengineered the vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSV-G)-based near-infrared (NIR) active viral nanoconstructs (NAVNs) encapsulating indocyanine green dye (ICG) for NIR bioimaging. NAVNs are spherical in size and have the intrinsic cellular-fusogenic properties of VSV-G. Further, the NIR imaging displaying higher fluorescence intensity in NAVNs treated cells suggests enhanced cellular uptake and delivery of ICG by NAVNs compared to the free form of ICG. The overall study highlights the effectiveness of VSV-G-based VNPs as an efficient delivery system for NIR fluorescence imaging.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates the effectiveness of viral nanoparticles for enhancing cellular uptake and intracellular delivery of therapeutic agents, bypassing endosomal degradation. By engineering vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein-based nanoconstructs, researchers successfully encapsulated a dye for near-infrared bioimaging, achieving higher fluorescence intensity in treated cells compared to free dye. This highlights the potential of VSV-G-based viral nanoparticles as an efficient delivery system for NIR fluorescence imaging.