14 research outputs found
Encapsulin based selfâassembling ironâcontaining protein nanoparticles for stem cells mri visualization.
Over the past decade, cell therapy has found many applications in the treatment of different diseases. Some of the cells already used in clinical practice include stem cells and CARâT cells. Compared with traditional drugs, living cells are much more complicated systems that must be strictly controlled to avoid undesirable migration, differentiation, or proliferation. One of the approaches used to prevent such side effects involves monitoring cell distribution in the human body by any noninvasive technique, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Longâterm tracking of stem cells with artificial magnetic labels, such as magnetic nanoparticles, is quite problematic because such labels can affect the metabolic process and cell viability. Additionally, the concentration of exogenous labels will decrease during cell division, leading to a corresponding decrease in signal intensity. In the current work, we present a new type of genetically encoded label based on encapsulin from Myxococcus xanthus bacteria, stably expressed in human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and coexpressed with ferroxidase as a cargo protein for nanoparticlesâ synthesis inside encapsulin shells. mZip14 protein was expressed for the enhancement of iron transport into the cell. Together, these three proteins led to the synthesis of ironâcontaining nanoparticles in mesenchymal stem cellsâwithout affecting cell viabilityâand increased contrast properties of MSCs in MRI