Virus-based nanoparticles

Viruses are a prime example of natural nanoparticles attenuated viral particles have been used in gene transfection and virus-based nanoparticles (VNP) studied as targeting systems (51,52). 

Manchester M. Targeted therapy using virus-based nanoparticles (VNPs). Nanomedicine 2006 2 294. 

Manchester M, Singh P. Virus based nanoparticles (VNPs) platform technologies for diagnostic imaging. Adv Drag Deliv Rev 2006 58 1505-1522. 

For the development of new materials with potential biomedical application, it is crucial to understand their overall in vivo properties. Parameters such as morphology, size, composition, surface chemistry, and associated physical properties of VNPs can greatly influence their toxicological nature, as well as accumulation and systemic clearance (Powers et al., 2006). Thus, a complete understanding of the pharmacokinetics, blood half-life, stability, biodistribution, and immunogenicity is crucial to assess the viability of virus-based nanoparticles. 

Protamine-based nanoparticles show a very low cytotoxicity in comparison with other gene delivery systems. In addition, when compared with commercially available liposomes (DOTAP, lipofectin), one artificial virus capsoid (polyoma VPl) and two cationic acrylate nanoparticles, the cell transfer efficiency in a mouse fibroblast cell line with protamine nanoparticles was one of the highest [117]. 

Liposome-polycation-DNA (LPD) nanoparticles (1) are formed by spontaneous rearrangement of a lipid shell around a polycation-condensed bacterial plasmid DNA core to form a virus-like structure (2). The LPD complexes consist of liposomes that are either made of cationic (LPDI) or anionic (LPDII) lipids and are sometimes referred to as lipopolyplexes, a broader category that also includes other lipid-based vectors (2). 

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