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

ABSTRACT: 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.

SUBMITTER: LaBauve AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6143628 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature