A novel functionality for cell-based therapeutics
Researchers from the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) have demonstrated the potential of cell-cell fusion mediated by measles virus as a cell therapy modality.
The approach achieved direct-to-cytosol payload delivery, showing it could be a robust and tunable system for achieving targeted cytosolic delivery and controlled formation of fused cells, or syncytia. By tuning measles virus complex stoichiometry on donor cells, syncytial growth and payload dose could be readily controlled. This paradigm offers a new approach for the design and function of cellular therapeutics.
All three authors are part of the Department of Biomedical Engineering community: Brenda Ogle, Professor and Head; Casim Sarkar, Professor; and Victor Garcia, PhD alumnus. The team published their findings in the Journal of Controlled Release in an article called, “Syncytial therapeutics: Receptor-specific and direct-to-cytosol biologic drug delivery mediated by measles fusion complex.”