Chemical Engineering Journal, 14 September, 2024, DOI：https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2024.155830

Viral capsid-mediated efficient cell labeling of micron-sized magnetic particles for highly sensitive long-term in vivo tumor cells MRI tracking

Xiayi Feng, Ding Gao, Juan Zhou, Zhu Gui, Aoling Cai, Jie Wang, Ji Dai, Yipeng Jing, Junchao Qian, Zongqiang Cui, Lanxiang Li, Yue You, Luyi Tian, Xian-En Zhang, Dong Men

Abstract

As a contrast agent, micron-sized iron oxide particles (MPIO) offer major advantages for monitoring tumor cells in vivo—applications crucial for studies of tumorigenesis and metastasis. However, labeling tumor cells with MPIO is often dependent on phagocytosis, which limits the labeling efficiency of the cells and thus affects in vivo tumor cell tracking. To address this issue, we prepared a virus-like particle (VLP) consisting of the SV40 VP1 protein modified on the surface of a MPIO (vMPIO). The vMPIO can enter cells via a pathway similar to that of viral infection (caveolae-dependent endocytosis pathway). This approach increased the number of vMPIO in individual labeled cells, which in turn enhances magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal intensity and the number of vMPIO in daughter cells. These vMPIO-labeled cells can be detected by MRI in vitro and in vivo even in very small numbers (≤10 cells). Furthermore, vMPIO-labeled cells were successfully applied to long-term tracing of tumor tissue and detection of early metastatic lesions. This VLP-mediated MPIO labeling strategy (vML) not only enables highly sensitive in vivo MRI but also introduces a useful technical tool for investigating tumor invasion and early metastasis.

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