title: Biodistribution and clearance of a filamentous plant virus in healthy and tumor-bearing mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Nanoparticles based on plant viruses are emerging biomaterials for medical applications such as drug delivery and imaging. Their regular structures can undergo genetic and chemical modifications to carry large payloads of cargos, as well as targeting ligands. Of several such platforms under development, only few have been characterized in vivo. We recently introduced the filamentous plant virus, potato virus X (PVX), as a new platform. PVX presents with a unique nanoarchitecture and is difficult to synthesize chemically.
  
  
  METHODS
  Here, we present a detailed analysis of PVX biodistribution and clearance in healthy mice and mouse tumor xenograft models using a combination of ex vivo whole-organ imaging, quantitative fluorescence assays and immunofluorescence microscopy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While up to 30% of the PVX signal was from the colon, mammary and brain tumor tissues, remaining particles were cleared by the reticuloendothelial system organs (the spleen and liver), followed by slower processing and clearance through the kidneys and bile.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Sourabh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shukla
authors.forename: Amy M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Nadia R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Ayat
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Commandeur
authors.forename: Ramamurthy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gopalkrishnan
authors.forename: Ann-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Broome
authors.forename: Kristen W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Lozada
authors.forename: Ruth A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Keri
authors.forename: Nicole F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Steinmetz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D064593:Heterografts; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000821:virology*; D010942:Plant Viruses / Q000502:physiology*