细菌生产人铁蛋白的新功能及应用

Novel properties and applications of human ferritin expressed by Escherichia coli

铁蛋白(Ferritin)是一种广泛存在于生物体中的笼状蛋白,由24个亚基自组装形成的蛋白质外壳和铁内核两部分组成,是维持机体铁代谢平衡的重要蛋白。最新发现,人血清铁蛋白含量的变化与某些疾病相关,特别是发现利用大肠杆菌重组表达、仿生合成的磁性人铁蛋白具有双功能特性,即识别肿瘤并使其可视化。此外,铁蛋白独特的结构及理化性质使其成为理想的纳米载体,用于构筑多功能肿瘤成像和药物输送的平台。本文重点介绍人铁蛋白的新功能及其在疾病诊断和肿瘤靶向治疗中的应用前景。

Ferritin is a cage-like protein ubiquitous distribution among living organisms. It is com- posed 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 can- cer therapy.