Virus-Like Particles for mRNA Delivery

Background:

Recent biomedical research has shown increased interest in the use of virus-like particles as a drug delivery vehicle.  Current viral vectors have been shown to cause adverse immunological responses, fail to integrate into the host, or have insufficient carrying capacity for desired therapeutics.  Alternative non-viral lipid vectors are typically coated by protein corona, and they are difficult to employ for specific cell type targeting.  Virus-like particles, however, have a reduced viral content to minimize potential immunological responses, and can be augmented for desired targeting profiles.

Technology Overview:

Virus-like particles are frequently used for vaccine development and are now evaluated for drug delivery applications.  Here, virus-like particles have been engineered for ease of use in drug delivery.   These are shown to be effective in gene editing applications, as they have proven to successfully deliver mRNA and overcoming barriers in mouse lungs, providing therapeutic delivery for pulmonary genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis, lymphangioleiomyomatosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

 Advantages:

• Aerosolized for pulmonary delivery based on virion properties
• Payload can be tuned with up to 4 genes packaged in a single particle
• Surface properties can be modified, allowing the virus to target antibody host cell types

 Applications:

• Gene delivery particle targeting lung therapeutics
• Other genome editing applications
• May be used in combination therapy with other drug modalities

Intellectual Property Summary:

US Provisional Patent Application 63/754,897 filed on February 6, 2025. 

Stage of Development:

Laboratory demonstration using in vitro and in vivo models.

Licensing Status: 

Available for licensing or collaboration. 

Additional Information:

Tuning the tropism and infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles for mRNA delivery | Nucleic Acids Research