Proteinaceous drugs often require constant refrigeration, from point of manufacture through transportation, storage, and ultimately administration in a patient. Failure of the refrigeration system at any point can lead to loss of drug activity or function and subsequent increased costs in money, time, material, and health. This hits harder in regions of the world that lack sufficient infrastructure to maintain refrigeration due to location in a developing nation, remote or inhospitable geography, disaster area, or warzone. Recent studies have shown that enzymes, antibodies, and even entire virus particles can be encapsulated in a ZIF-8 coordination polymer that provides thermal, mechanical, and chemical stability to the underlying proteinaceous material. A recent study has shown the viability of encapsulating individual tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) particles within a ZIF-8 shell of tunable thickness, providing morphological and chemical stability against various organic solvents and boiling water, with stability increasing with shell thickness. Because of the high porosity inherent to ZIF-8 reactants in bioconjugation reactions are still able to diffuse through the shell and react with the virus surface, attaching important functional handles for further modification and application. The ZIF-8 shell can also be exfoliated and intact naked virus particles recovered. The aim of the current study is to ascertain the surface stability of TMV through the encapsulation and exfoliation process, including various stressors such as heat and denaturing solvents applied while encapsulated. This is done via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, taking advantage of the property of antibodies to bind to specific shapes; a damaged surface will bind less antibodies than an intact one, and when compared to fully intact and fully denatured surfaces, the stress on the surface can be measured. Also tested is the ability to infect plants through the process, and antibody production in mice against the encapsulated virus.

Immunoassay investigation of vaccine carrier stability within ZIF-8 encapsulation

256th National Meeting (2018)

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