Viral nanoparticle cell-targeted delivery platform
AssigneeNorth Carolina State University
InventorsStefan Franzen, Richard Guenther, Steven A. Lommel, LiNa Loo
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Abstract
This invention is a process for the manufacture of a plant viral capsid to be used for the targeted delivery of therapeutics to diseased cells. The process uses a plant virus as the starting material. The choice of the plant virus overcomes a problem in the manufacture of a uniform starting material. The final product has an advantage over other plant virus-based delivery systems in that the plant virus selected has a natural structure that is resistant to breakdown during the delivery process. This system takes advantage of the reversible divalent cation switch that this capsid employs to assemble and disassemble.
Claims28
A method of enclosing a compound of interest in red clover necrotic mosaic viral capsids, comprising the steps of:
- (a) treating said viral capsids to remove sufficient calcium and magnesium divalent cations to open pores therein, thereby providing sensitized viral capsids;
- (b) incubating said sensitized viral capsids with said compound of interest for a time sufficient for said compound of interest to enter said sensitized viral capsids;
- and
- (c) treating said viral capsids with divalent cations for a time sufficient to close said pores and enclose said compound of interest in said plant viral capsids.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.