Development of Influenza H7N9 Virus Like Particle and Its Application in the Delivery of Fluorescent Quantum Dots

Abstract

Quantum dots are widely used in biomedical investigation, but the application is often limited by their systemic toxicity. This paper aimed to investigate the effects of virus like particles coating on the toxicity and cellular accumulation of quantum dots, providing a new paradigm for the design of intracellular microscopic probes. For this purpose, an H7N9 virus like particle composed of unmodified hemagglutinin, neuraminidase and the matrix 1 protein from the A/Shanghai/02/2013 strain were produced in Spodoptera frugiperda insect cells. After then, quantum dots successfully self-assembled into viral like particles with an incorporation efficiency of about 80%, exhibiting enhanced accumulation and minimal toxicity in HepG2 cells. Together, the data demonstrated that recombinant H7N9 virus like particle could be developed as a promising carrier for the delivery of nanoparticles and other relating drugs. And future work would be carried out on the development of incorporation efficiency of quantum dots.