Team modifies nanoscale virus to deliver peptide drugs to cells, tissues

By chipping away at a viral protein, Rice University scientists have discovered a path toward virus-like, nanoscale devices that may be able to deliver drugs to cells. 

The protein is one of three that make up the protective shell, called the capsid, of natural adeno-associated viruses (AAV). By making progressively smaller versions of the protein, the researchers made capsids with unique abilities and learned a great deal about AAV's mechanisms.

Rice bioengineer Junghae Suh studies the manipulation of nondisease-causing AAVs to deliver helpful cargoes like chemotherapy drugs. Her research has led to the development of viruses that can be triggered by light or by extracellular proteases associated with certain diseases.

AAVs are small-about 25 nanometers-and contain a single strand of DNA inside tough capsids that consist of a mosaic of proteins known as VP1, VP2 and VP3. AAVs have been used to deliver gene-therapy payloads, but nobody has figured out how AAV capsids physically reconfigure themselves when triggered by external stimuli, Suh said. That was the starting point for her lab.

"Viruses have evolved to invade cells very effectively," Suh said. "We want to use our virus as a nanoparticle platform to deliver protein- or peptide-based therapeutics more efficiently into cells. We want to harness what nature has already created, tweak it a little bit and use it for our purposes."