skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Lipid-Coated Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for the Delivery of the ML336 Antiviral to Inhibit Encephalitic Alphavirus Infection

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports

Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) poses a major public health risk due to its amenability for use as a bioterrorism agent and its severe health consequences in humans. ML336 is a recently developed chemical inhibitor of VEEV, shown to effectively reduce VEEV infection in vitro and in vivo. However, its limited solubility and stability could hinder its clinical translation. To overcome these limitations, lipid-coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (LC-MSNs) were employed. The large surface area of the MSN core promotes hydrophobic drug loading while the liposome coating retains the drug and enables enhanced circulation time and biocompatibility, providing an ideal ML336 delivery platform. LC-MSNs loaded 20 ± 3.4 μg ML336/mg LC-MSN and released 6.6 ± 1.3 μg/mg ML336 over 24 hours. ML336-loaded LC-MSNs significantly inhibited VEEV in vitro in a dose-dependent manner as compared to unloaded LC-MSNs controls. Moreover, cell-based studies suggested that additional release of ML336 occurs after endocytosis. Here, in vivo safety studies were conducted in mice, and LC-MSNs were not toxic when dosed at 0.11 g LC-MSNs/kg/day for four days. ML336-loaded LC-MSNs showed significant reduction of brain viral titer in VEEV infected mice compared to PBS controls. Overall, these results highlight the utility of LC-MSNs as drug delivery vehicles to treat VEEV.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000; 190245; NA0003525; 1002720595; AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1469731
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1474053; OSTI ID: 1871379
Report Number(s):
SAND-2018-10167J; LLNL-JRNL-835547; 13990; PII: 32033
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Vol. 8 Journal Issue: 1; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 52 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (43)

Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle-Supported Lipid Bilayers (Protocells) for Active Targeting and Delivery to Individual Leukemia Cells journal July 2016
Rift Valley Fever Virus Strain MP-12 Enters Mammalian Host Cells via Caveola-Mediated Endocytosis journal September 2012
Modulation of GSK-3β Activity in Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus Infection journal April 2012
The eradication of breast cancer cells and stem cells by 8-hydroxyquinoline-loaded hyaluronan modified mesoporous silica nanoparticle-supported lipid bilayers containing docetaxel journal October 2013
Improved Biocompatibility and Pharmacokinetics of Silica Nanoparticles by Means of a Lipid Coating: A Multimodality Investigation journal August 2008
Chemically Reducible Lipid Bilayer Coated Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles Demonstrating Controlled Release and HeLa and Normal Mouse Liver Cell Biocompatibility and Cellular Internalization journal July 2012
Porous Nanoparticle Supported Lipid Bilayers (Protocells) as Delivery Vehicles journal February 2009
Discovery of a Novel Compound with Anti-Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus Activity That Targets the Nonstructural Protein 2 journal June 2014
Colchicine-Loaded Lipid Bilayer-Coated 50 nm Mesoporous Nanoparticles Efficiently Induce Microtubule Depolymerization upon Cell Uptake journal July 2010
Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Biocompatibility and Drug Delivery journal February 2012
The Formation of Supported Lipid Bilayers on Silica Nanoparticles Revealed by Cryoelectron Microscopy journal February 2005
Inhibition of Influenza A Virus Infection in Vitro by Saliphenylhalamide-Loaded Porous Silicon Nanoparticles journal July 2013
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles in medicine—Recent advances journal May 2013
Mesoporous silica materials: From physico-chemical properties to enhanced dissolution of poorly water-soluble drugs journal September 2017
Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Intracellular Controlled Drug Delivery journal August 2010
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles as controlled release drug delivery and gene transfection carriers journal August 2008
Systematic in vitro and in vivo study on porous silicon to improve the oral bioavailability of celecoxib journal June 2015
Encephalitic alphaviruses journal January 2010
Stability of Cucumber Necrosis Virus at the Quasi-6-Fold Axis Affects Zoospore Transmission journal July 2017
Host oxidative folding pathways offer novel anti-chikungunya virus drug targets with broad spectrum potential journal July 2017
Dissolution kinetics of mesoporous silica nanoparticles in different simulated body fluids journal April 2016
Biocompatibility, Biodistribution, and Drug-Delivery Efficiency of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy in Animals journal July 2010
Stability of small mesoporous silicananoparticles in biological media journal January 2011
Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles as a Delivery System for Hydrophobic Anticancer Drugs journal August 2007
Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus Capsid Protein Inhibits Nuclear Import in Mammalian but Not in Mosquito Cells journal February 2008
Biofunctionalized Phospholipid-Capped Mesoporous Silica Nanoshuttles for Targeted Drug Delivery: Improved Water Suspensibility and Decreased Nonspecific Protein Binding journal July 2010
Biofunctionalized polymer-lipid supported mesoporous silica nanoparticles for release of chemotherapeutics in multidrug resistant cancer cells journal April 2014
Treatment of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus infection with (−)-carbodine journal December 2008
Viruses of the Bunya- and Togaviridae families: potential as bioterrorism agents and means of control journal January 2003
Small molecule inhibitors of Ago2 decrease Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus replication journal December 2014
Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle Nanocarriers: Biofunctionality and Biocompatibility journal July 2012
C3H/HeN mouse model for the evaluation of antiviral agents for the treatment of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus infection journal June 2008
Hybrid Lipid-Capped Mesoporous Silica for Stimuli-Responsive Drug Release and Overcoming Multidrug Resistance journal January 2015
On the intracellular release mechanism of hydrophobic cargo and its relation to the biodegradation behavior of mesoporous silica nanocarriers journal December 2016
Towards multifunctional, targeted drug delivery systems using mesoporous silica nanoparticles – opportunities & challenges journal January 2010
Development of ( E )-2-((1,4-Dimethylpiperazin-2-ylidene)amino)-5-nitro- N -phenylbenzamide, ML336: Novel 2-Amidinophenylbenzamides as Potent Inhibitors of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus journal October 2014
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles in biomedical applications journal January 2012
Direct cellular delivery of human proteasomes to delay tau aggregation journal December 2014
A novel approach for targeted delivery to motoneurons using cholera toxin-B modified protocells journal November 2016
Vaccines and therapeutics for the encephalitic alphaviruses journal July 2013
Re-examining the Size/Charge Paradigm: Differing in Vivo Characteristics of Size- and Charge-Matched Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles journal October 2013
Protocells: Modular Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle-Supported Lipid Bilayers for Drug Delivery journal January 2016
Phospholipid-functionalized mesoporous silica nanocarriers for selective photodynamic therapy of cancer journal October 2013