Anton Petcherski, Brett M Tingley, Andrew Martin, Sarah Adams, Alexandra J Brownstein, Ross A Steinberg, Byourak Shabane, Gustavo Garcia Jr, Michaela Veliova, Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami, Aaron H Colby, Orian S Shirihai and Mark W Grinstaff
BioRxiv, May 9, 2023
In this study, scientists investigate the use of nanoparticles for pulmonary delivery of the antiviral drug mefloquine (MFQ) directly to endolysosomes, aiming to enhance its efficacy against coronaviruses. These MFQ-loaded nanoparticles (MFQ-NPs) were found to be less toxic than free MFQ and effectively inhibited infection by mouse hepatitis virus A59 (MHV-A59), human coronavirus OC43, SARS-CoV-2 WA1, and its Omicron variant in relevant cell models. This targeted delivery approach suggests that organelle-specific nanoparticle systems could be a promising strategy for treating viral infections. In order to determine the best timepoint to assess MHV-A49 (MHV-GFP) infection, cells were imaged every hour for 48and analyzed every hour for 48 hours using the Axion Biosystems’ Omni FL live-cell imaging system with the AI-powered Confluency Module.
