Abstract
Ferritin is a spherical iron storage protein composed of 24 subunits and an iron core. Using biomimetic mineralization, magnetic iron oxide can be synthesized in the cavity of ferritin to form magnetoferritin (MFt). MFt, also known as a superparamagnetic protein, is a novel magnetic nanomaterial with good biocompatibility and flexibility for biomedical applications. Recently, it has been demonstrated that MFt had tumor targetability and a peroxidase-like catalytic activity. Thus, MFt, with its many unique properties, provides a powerful platform for tumor diagnosis and therapy. In this review, we discuss the biomimetic synthesis and biomedical applications of MFt.
Highlights
Introduction of Ferritin and MagnetoferritinFerritin belongs to a family of iron storage proteins, which was first isolated from horse spleen in 1937 by Laufberger [1]
The ferrihydrite of natural ferritin is antiferromagnetic [8], the inorganic core of ferritin could be reconstituted with magnetic iron core in vitro to form an artificial magnetic protein, which was termed as magnetoferritin (MFt) [2]
The iron core of nature ferritin can be removed by reduction, and inorganic ferritin provides a good template for the synthesis of uniform size nanoparticles, and the protein clusters or nanoparticles can be synthesized in the cavity by mineralization [28]
Summary
Ferritin belongs to a family of iron storage proteins, which was first isolated from horse spleen in 1937 by Laufberger [1]. It has been found that serum the ferritin heavy chain is involved in controlling cancer cell growth [14]. While the biological function and demonstrated that the ferritin heavy chain impacted cell viability by regulating the expression source of serum ferritin remains to be elucidated [27], these data indicated that ferritin might play an of miRNAs [13,15,16]. The natural structure of ferritin provides an appropriate template for the synthesis of call this nanomaterial with ferritin shell and magnetic iron oxide core as magnetoferritin, MFt. The nanoparticles. The iron core of nature ferritin can be removed by reduction, and inorganic ferritin provides a good template for the synthesis of uniform size nanoparticles, and the protein clusters or nanoparticles can be synthesized in the cavity by mineralization [28]. An extensive overview is presented on the synthesis, properties, modifications, and biomedical applications of MFt
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