Transferrin-Mediated Targeting of Bacteriophage HK97 Nanoparticles Into Tumor Cells

AIMS: Next-generation targeted nanodevices are currently under development for imaging and therapeutic applications. We engineered HK97 viral nanoparticles (VNPs) for tumor cell-specific targeting. METHODS: A combination of genetic and chemical engineering methods were developed and applied to generate dual-labeled HK97 cysteine mutant particles displaying transferrin and fluorescent labels. The targeting properties of transferrin-conjugated VNPs were evaluated by in vitro experiments using different cancer cell lines. RESULTS: We found that HK97-transferrin formulations were indeed targeted to cancer cells in vitro via the transferrin receptor. These studies highlight the utility and facilitate the further development of HK97-based VNPs.