Novel properties and applications of human ferritin expressed by Escherichia coli

Abstract:

Ferritin is a cage-like protein ubiquitous distribution among living organisms. It is composed of a 24-subunit protein cage with an internal iron oxide core. Ferritin plays an important role in iron homeostasis based on its ability of iron detoxification and iron storage. Recently, serum ferritin levels are found to be changed in some pathologic process. Particularly, biomimetically synthesized magnetoferritin which using recombinant human ferritin expressed by Escherichia coli as templates, possess intrinsic dual functionality, targeting and visualizing tumor tissues. The unique properties of ferritin make it an ideal and powerful nanoplatform on which to construct multifunctional nanoparitlces for imaging and delivery of drugs. Here, we summarized the new features of human ferritin and the research progress of ferritin-based applications in disease diagnosis and targeted cancer therapy.