Rod-shaped plant virus nanoparticles as imaging agent platforms
AssigneeCase Western Reserve University
InventorsNicole Steinmetz, Michael Bruckman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rod-shaped plant virus having an interior surface and an exterior surface, and at least one imaging agent that is linked to the interior and/or exterior surface is described. The rod-shaped viruses can be combined into larger spherical nanoparticles. A rod-shaped plant virus or spherical nanoparticles including an imaging agent can be used in a method of generating an image of a tissue region of a subject such as a tumor or atherosclerotic tissue by administering the virus particle to the subject and generating an image of the tissue region of the subject to which the virus particle has been distributed.
Claims20
A method of generating an image of a tissue region of a subject, the method comprising:
- administering to the subject a diagnostically effective amount of a spherical nanoparticle imaging platform, the spherical nanoparticle imaging platform including a spherical arrangement of the coat proteins of one or more rod-shaped plant virus particles linked to an imaging agent on an interior surface of the virus particle, formed by thermal transition of the rod-shaped virus particles, wherein the imaging platform has a longitudinal relaxivity of greater than about 10 mM−1S−1 per linked imaging agent when measured at 60 MHz at a physiological pH;
- and
- generating an image of the tissue region of the subject to which the rod-shaped plant virus particle has been distributed.
A method of generating dual modal imaging of an atherosclerotic plaque in a blood vessel of a subject, the method comprising:
- administering to the subject a diagnostically effective amount of a rod-shaped plant virus particle, the rod-shaped plant virus particle having a magnetic resonance imaging agent and a fluorescent imaging agent linked to an interior surface of the virus particle and a vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM) targeting ligand linked to the exterior surface of the virus particle;
- and
- generating a magnetic resonance image and a fluorescent optical image of the blood vessel of the subject to which the rod-shaped plant virus particle has been distributed.
A method of generating a spherical nanoparticle imaging platform, the method comprising:
- providing a reaction mixture, the reaction mixture including TMV plant virus rods at a concentration of 0.1 mg mL−1 in H2O and polyethylene glycol (PEG) 8 kDa at 0.5% w/v, the TMV plant rods having an interior surface and an exterior surface and at least one imaging agent that is linked to the interior surface of the TMV plant virus;
- and
- heating the reaction mixture for about 15 seconds at about 96° C., wherein heating results in the thermal transition of the TMV plant rods into spherical nanospheres (SNPs).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.