Abstract
Ferrite nanoparticles have been widely used in the biomedical field (such as magnetic targeting, magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic hyperthermia, etc.) due to their appealing magnetic properties. In tumor acidic microenvironment, ferrite nanoparticles show intrinsic peroxidase-like activities, which can catalyze the Fenton reaction of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to produce highly toxic hydroxyl free radicals (•OH), causing the death of tumor cell. Recent progresses in this field have shown that the enzymatic activity of ferrite can be improved via converting external field energy such as alternating magnetic field and near-infrared laser into nanoscale heat to produce more •OH, enhancing the killing effect on tumor cells. On the other hand, combined with other nanomaterials or drugs for cascade reactions, the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) can also be increased to obtain more efficient cancer therapy. In this review, we will discuss the current status and progress of the application of ferrite nanoparticles in ROS-mediated cancer therapy and try to provide new ideas for this area.
Introduction
Cancer is one of the principal causes of morbidity and mortality in every country of the world. According to global cancer statistics of the World Health Organization, there were 18.1 million new cancer cases and 9.6 million cancer deaths in 2018, with the number of new cases rising 42.5% compared to that in 2008 (12.7 million) (Bray et al., ). In order to prevent the uncontrollable growth of tumor cells, the most conventional cancer therapeutic approaches used in clinical practice now are still surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and combination of them (Vahrmeijer et al., ; Barton et al., ; Prigerson et al., ; Sullivan et al., ; Sharma et al., ). However, surgery is often ineffective for advanced and metastasized cancers. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy suffer from severe side effects on account of the toxicity to normal cells and tissues. Based on the research of cancer-related biology and the development of biomedical engineering, a variety of alternative treatment strategies have been extensively studied to obtain more efficient cancer therapy, such as magnetic hyperthermia, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, immunotherapy, and gene therapy (Dolmans et al., ; Yang et al., ; Kumar and Mohammad, ; Pardoll, ; Topalian et al., ; High and Roncarolo, ; Liu et al., ). Most of these treatment strategies need to rely on the regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to mediate tumor cell death. ROS are categorized as a class of incomplete reduction products of oxygen, mainly including superoxide anion (), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), hydroxyl radical (•OH), and singlet oxygen (1O2) (Kumari et al., ). Superoxide anion can be generated as a byproduct of the electron transport chain in mitochondria or through activation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NOX) and exogenous stimulation (Murphy, ). Superoxide dismutase can reduce superoxide to hydrogen peroxide, which can be further converted into non-oxidizing water by cytosolic antioxidant systems under the catalysis of catalase, peroxiredoxins, and glutathione peroxidase (Winston and Giulio, ). The balance between the production and neutralization of reactive oxygen species in normal cells is beneficial to maintaining a proper ROS concentration to regulate intracellular signaling and homeostasis (Forman et al., ). Reactive oxygen species at high levels can damage proteins, lipids, and DNA, resulting in mutations and carcinogenesis in normal cells (Trachootham et al., ). Compared with normal cells, most tumor cells metabolize in distinct pathways leading to excessive ROS production (Schumacker, ). Cancer cells also have a higher level of antioxidant enzymes to enable them to survive in the presence of intrinsic oxidative stress without apoptosis (Birben et al., ). Increasing generation, regulating the types of reactive oxygen species, and inhibiting cellular glutathione peroxidase can break the balance between the production and elimination of ROS in tumor cell and tune the function of intracellular ROS from tumor promoting toward apoptotic signaling, inducing the apoptosis and death of tumor cell for cancer therapeutics (Liou and Storz, ). In order to enhance the effect of ROS-mediated tumor-specific therapeutic, various drugs and nanomaterials such as doxorubicin, cisplatin, Fe3O4, gold, silver, polyoxomolybdate (POM), and molybdenum carbide have been studied for targeted delivery to tumor tissues and endocytosis by tumor cells to selectively increase the production of highly toxic ROS in tumor cells (Yanagie et al., ; He et al., , ; Maji et al., ; Kankala et al., ; Feng et al., ; Liu et al., ; Dong et al., ; Maiti et al., ). Among these nanomaterials, ferrite nanoparticles are widely studied due to unique magnetic properties and relatively high safety to human body, especially iron oxide nanoparticles, which have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for clinical applications, such as iron supplement, magnetic resonance contrast agent, and drug carrier (Liu et al., ). Ferrite nanomaterials are composed of main ferric oxide and one or more oxides of other metals (such as manganese, copper, nickel, cobalt, or zinc). In tumor acidic microenvironment, ferrite nanoparticles exhibit peroxidase-like activity, which can catalyze the Fenton reaction of H2O2 to produce highly toxic •OH, inducing the death of tumor cell (Chen et al., ). The peroxidase activity depends on the intrinsic properties of ferrite nanoparticles (chemical composition, crystalline phase, and particle size) and ROS-related bio-microenvironmental factors (physiological pH and buffers, biogenic reducing agents, and other organic substances). For further reading these factors in detail, an excellent review has been published by Yin and colleagues (Wu et al., ). In this review, we summarized the advances in the application of ferrite nanoparticles in ROS-mediated cancer therapy, and constructive perspectives were also provided.
Ferrite-Based ROS-Mediated Cancer Therapy
In 2007, Yan et al. first discovered that Fe3O4 nanoparticles possess intrinsic peroxidase-like activity, which can catalyze the disproportionation of H2O2 to produce highly toxic •OH (Gao et al., ). Subsequently, researchers conducted extensive investigation on ferrite nanomaterials as nanoenzyme to mediate the generation of ROS for tumor treatment (Mai and Hilt, ). The specific mechanisms of the sufficient and highly toxic ROS production under the catalysis of ferrite nanoparticles in the existing publications can be roughly summarized as the following (shown in Scheme 1): (1) the intrinsic Fenton reaction catalytic activity of ferrite nanomaterials, (2) external field energy enhanced Fenton reaction, and (3) the cascade reactions to generate sufficient ROS.
Scheme 1
Intrinsic Fenton Reaction of Ferrite
The intrinsic Fenton reaction catalytic activity is the most important mechanism of ferrite nanoparticles for ROS-mediated tumor therapy. Ferrite nanoparticles can specifically accumulate at the tumor site via enhanced permeability and retention effect and magnetic targeting and simultaneously release ferrous and ferric ions in tumor acidic environment to participate in the Fenton reaction with H2O2 and generate •OH (Wang et al., ). The Fenton and Fenton-like reactions can be shown as the following equations: (1); (2) (Bokare and Choi, ). The intrinsic catalytic activity of ferrite nanoparticles can be flexibly designed and controlled by adjusting the particles composition, size, morphology, etc.
Wang et al. pioneered the study of magnetic nanoparticles for tumor treatment (Zhang et al., ). They synthesized 6 and 13 nm magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) through a one-pot method, which possessed enzyme-mimicking activity to produce ROS efficiently for cancer theranostics. The smaller size MNPs had higher enzyme-mimicking activity, and an ~99% tumor inhibition ratio was obtained by combining with intratumoral injection of exogenous hydrogen peroxide after treatment for 17 days. The size dependence of the catalytic activity of ferrite nanoparticles was further studied by Liu and colleagues. They investigated the cytotoxic effects of small Fe3O4 nanoparticles with different diameters (6, 9, and 14 nm) on human hepatoma cell lines, SK-Hep-1 and Hep3B (Xie et al., ). The 9 nm Fe3O4 nanoparticles mediated mitochondria-dependent intracellular ROS generation to induce cellular mitochondrial dysfunction and necrosis, while the 14 nm Fe3O4 nanoparticles led to plasma membrane damage. Luo et al. obtained similar results that a suitable size (15.1 nm) of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) enhanced the uptake amount into MCF7 cells, leading to the formation of more ROS (Zhang et al., ). Promoted ROS was produced in mitochondria to destroy mitochondria by small size (7.3 nm) SPIONs, while more ROS was yield in plasma to destroy cytomembrane by larger size (15.1, 30.0 nm) SPIONs. As can be seen from the above description, the size may affect the distribution of the nanoparticles. It would be more efficient if the ferrite nanoparticles can be delivered to the desired area. Zhu et al. developed a pH-responsive iron oxides-loaded mesoporous silica nanosystem (FeOx-MSNs), which could deliver FeOx to lysosomes and release Fe2+/Fe3+ in acidic environment to catalyze the decomposition of H2O2 to generate considerable ROS to damage breast carcinoma cells efficiently (Figure 1) (Fu et al., ).
Figure 1
The morphology has a significant impact on the properties of nanomaterials. Li et al. fabricated Fe3O4 nanoparticles with nanocluster, nanoflower, and nanodiamond structures by tuning the pH of the hydrothermal reaction (Figure 2) (Fu et al.,
Figure 2

(A) Schematic illustration for the structural effect of Fe3O4 nanoparticles on ROS generation for cancer cell killing. (B) Endocytosis percentage of three kinds of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. (C) Cell viability incubated with Fe3O4 (1 mg/ml) alone or Fe3O4 (25 μg/ml) plus H2O2 (0.625 μM). Statistical significance, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. Reproduced, with permission, from Fu et al. (
Non-ferrous metal species such as copper, zinc, and iridium are widely used to regulate the performance of ferrite nanoparticles. Alshamsan et al. prepared copper ferrite nanoparticles, which could induce evident oxidative stress by ROS generation and glutathione depletion, triggering the death of human breast cancer MCF-7 cells (Ahamed et al.,
Figure 3

(A) Illustration for cytotoxic effect of SnFe2O4 nanocrystals on cancer cells. (B) Fluorescent images of test cells. (C) Corresponding quantitative results obtained using MTT. *Statistical significance indicated by P < 0.05. Reproduced, with permission, from Lee et al. (
Surface modification also plays an important role in the preparation, stability, and activity of ferrite nanoparticles. Tiku synthesized phyllanthus emblica-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPAs) using a green approach (Thoidingjam and Tiku,
Figure 4

(A) Schematic illustration for Fe2O3@DMSA promoted ROS-induced tumoricidal autophagy. (B) Zeta potential of Fe2O3@DMSA and Fe2O3@APTS. (C,D) Cellular uptake of Fe2O3@DMSA and Fe2O3@APTS. (E) ROS production of SK-Hep-1 cells exposed to Fe2O3@DMSA or Fe2O3@APTS. (F) Photographs of tumors. Statistical significance, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 compared with control. #p < 0.05,##p < 0.01, and ###p < 0.001 between the indicated groups. Reproduced, with permission, from Xie et al. (
The effect of ROS-mediated tumor therapy can be significantly improved by combining ferrite nanoparticles with chemotherapeutic drugs, chemical or biological agents, etc. Bahadur et al. developed PEGylated mesoporous iron platinum–iron oxide composite nanoassemblies with high loading capacity of doxorubicin, which exhibited a higher efficiency of ROS generation compared to Fe3O4 and Pt under the synergistic catalytic effect of FePt and Fe3O4, resulting in efficient chemo- and thermal therapy for Hela cancer cells (Sahu et al.,
Figure 5

(A) Fabrication of DOX–ICG@Fe/FeO–PPP nanocapsules. (B) Volume change of tumor in different treatments. (C) Synergism schematic of Fenton reaction of Fe/FeO NCs with photothermal conversion (ICG). **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Reproduced, with permission, from Wang et al. (
The applicability of ROS-mediated treatment to different types of cancers has been extensively verified. Ahamed et al. prepared spherical iron oxide nanoparticles with a smooth surface and an average diameter of 23 nm, which could induce the reactive oxygen species generation in HepG2 and A549 cancer cells, upregulating tumor suppressor gene p53 and caspase-3 and caspase-9 apoptotic genes to trigger cancer cells apoptosis (Ahamed et al.,
The study of mechanisms and pathways for ROS-mediated cancer therapy based on ferrite nanoparticles has also attracted the attention of researchers. Liu et al. investigated the molecular mechanism of SPIONs induced cancer-cell-specific cytotoxicity through DNA microarray and bioinformatics analyses (He et al.,
Figure 6

(A) Schematic illustration for roles of ROS on PEI-MNPs elicited responses in cancer cells. (B,C) PEI-MNPs induced overproduction of ROS, triggering the activation of NF-κB and TGF-β pathways. (D) Western blotting experiments of the cancer cells treated with PEI-MNPs. *P < 0.05;**P < 0.01;***P < 0.005 vs controls. Reproduced, with permission, from Man et al. (
External Field Enhanced Fenton Reaction
Only relying on the intrinsic Fenton reaction catalytic activity of ferrite nanomaterials often requires a high concentration to generate enough ROS to kill tumor cells, which may increase the burden of iron removal based on the kidney and liver and cause adverse damage to the body (Ranji-Burachaloo et al.,
Kryschi et al. first studied the citrate-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as X-ray radiosensitizer (Klein et al.,
Figure 7

(A) Fabrication of PA-SAM functionalized Fe3O4 and CoFe2O4 MNPs. (B) Mechanisms of ROS generation under X-ray irradiation. (C) Determination of ROS concentration in MCF-7 cells. (D) Survival curves of MCF-7 cells incubated with functionalized CoFe2O4 MNPs. **P < 0.01, ****P < 0.001. Reproduced, with permission, from Klein et al. (
Light waves are also widely used as external field energy sources. Near-infrared light irradiation can be efficiently converted into heat to enhance ROS generation. Miao et al. synthesized Zn2+-doped magnetic nanoparticles via hydrothermal route, which revealed excellent photothermal effect to generate localized heat and increase the dissolution of magnetic nanoparticles in the acid medium to enhance ROS generation upon a near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation, inducing cancer treatment (Qi et al.,
Figure 8

(A,B) Schematic illustration of fabrication and therapy mechanism of HOIL-PEG NSs. (C) ROS content of A549 cells after treated. (D) Morphology of representative tumors. (E) Tumor volume of A549 tumor-bearing nude mice after treatment. Statistical values are indicated in figures according to the following scale: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001. Reproduced, with permission, from Ou et al. (
Ferrite nanoparticles have unique magnetic heating transfer efficiency to generate heat, enhancing the effect of ROS-mediated cancer therapy (Johannsen et al.,
Figure 9

(A) Schematic illustration for FVIOs-GO-mediated MTD by combination of a heating effect and ROS-related immunologic effect. (B) Quantification of ROS generation of 4T1 breast cancer cells. (C) Quantification of M1 macrophages for treatments. (D) Tumor volume vs. days after treatments. *0.01 < P < 0.05;**0.001 < P < 0.01;***P < 0.001. Reproduced, with permission, from Liu et al. (
Multifield coupling can often produce better synergistic therapeutic effects. Hassan et al. designed nanohybrid using nanoflower-like iron oxide and spiky copper sulfide shell (IONF@CuS), which could efficiently convert light and magnetic stimulation into heat and form concurrent reactive oxygen species upon laser irradiation for a tri-therapeutic strategy merging magnetic hyperthermia and photothermal and photodynamic therapy (Curcio et al.,
Figure 10

A schematic illustration for Fe3O4-Pd JNPs enhanced ROS-mediated antineoplastic therapy. Reproduced, with permission, from Ma et al. (
Cascade Reactions Increased ROS
The rapid growth of the tumor tissues and the incomplete blood vessels lead to a hypoxia environment within solid tumors (Knowles and Harris,
The most commonly used strategy is to generate more intratumoral hydrogen peroxide in situ through cascade reactions for the subsequent Fenton reaction. The β-lapachone was used earlier in such cascade reactions, which could undergo redox cycles to generate high H2O2 levels inside cancer cells. Gao et al. developed pH-responsive superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION micelles), which could selectively release iron ions in tumor acidic environment to react with H2O2 generated from β-lapachone to produce 10-fold highly active hydroxyl radicals, displaying a synergistic efficacy for cancer treatment with ROS-generating anticancer drug (Huang et al.,
Figure 11

Schematic illustration for (A) preparation of polymersome nanoreactors and (B) cascade reactions in the nanoreactors. (C) Chemical structure of PEG-b-P(CPTKMA-co-PEMA). (D) Cascade reactions equations occurring in the nanoreactors. Reproduced, with permission, from Ke et al. (
H2O2 through disproportionation reaction. The generated H2O2 then underwent a reaction with Fe2+ of FeOxH to produce amplified hydroxyl radicals, triggering near-infrared activated ROS-mediated photodynamic therapy.
Ferrite nanoparticles are also used to catalyze the production of molecular oxygen to overcome tumor hypoxia, improving the ROS-mediated tumor therapeutic effect. Hyeon et al. designed manganese ferrite nanoparticle anchored mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with molecule chlorin e6 (MFMSNs-Ce6) (Kim et al.,
Figure 12

(A) Schematic diagram of ISP-NMs and application for cancer treatment. (B) Fluorescent intensity of cancer cells after treatment. (C) Tumor volume changes during 14 days. *P < 0.05. **P < 0.01. ***P < 0.001 drugs treated groups versus one of control; #P < 0.05,##P < 0.01,###P < 0.001 other drugs treated groups versus the group of ISP-NMs+M. Reproduced, with permission, from Zhang et al. (
Some other strategies have also been developed to increase ROS generation. Daldrup-Link et al. coincubated adenocarcinoma with iron oxide nanoparticle compound ferumoxytol and macrophages (Zanganeh et al.,
Figure 13

(A) Schematic illustration of ferumoxytol-altered polarization of tumor-associated macrophages to release ROS, inducing cell death. (B) Signs of proinflammatory macrophage activation. (C) Quantitative measures of hydroxyl radical. (D) Coculture leads to increased caspase-3 expression of cancer cells. (E) Serial bioluminescence imaging after intravenous injection of ferumoxytol at a dose of 10 mg Fe kg−1. Reproduced, with permission, from Tarangelo and Dixon (
Conclusion and Future Outlook
In the past nearly 10 years, ROS-mediated cancer therapy using ferrite nanoparticles has been rapidly developed, and researchers have published a large number of related publications (summarized in Table 1). This review was carried on the classification and summarization of the application of ferrite nanoparticles in ROS-mediated cancer therapy. Based on the analysis of the current literature, it can be seen that various modification strategies for the ROS-mediated cancer therapies based on ferrite nanoparticles are producing more and more successful results, especially in combination with drugs, biological and chemical agents, and/or co-exposure of other energy fields such as X-rays, lasers, and alternating magnetic fields, becoming potential effective tumor therapy strategies. However, to date, only iron oxide nanoparticles have been approved for the magnetic response diagnosis and the magnetic hyperthermia tumor therapy (Park et al.,
Table 1
| ROS production | Ferrite-based nanoplatform | Brief description | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intrinsic fenton reaction | Fe3O4 (6, 13 nm) | Smaller size, higher enzyme activity | Zhang et al., |
| Fe3O4 (6, 9, and 14 nm) | Small size NPs destroy mitochondria, while larger size destroy cytomembrane | Xie et al., | |
| SPIONs (7.3, 15.1, 30.0 nm) | Zhang et al., | ||
| FeOx-MSNs | pH responsive, delivered to acidic lysosomes | Fu et al., | |
| Fe3O4 nanocluster, nanoflower, and nanodiamond | Fe3O4 nanodiamonds induce the highest cell killing effect | Fu et al., | |
| CuFe2O4 | Non-ferrous metal species regulate the ROS production | Ahamed et al., | |
| MB-CuFe NPs | Kuo et al., | ||
| SnFe2O4 | Lee et al., | ||
| Iridium oxide and iron oxide | Shaikh et al., | ||
| CuO, γFe2O3, CuZnFe2O3 | Siddiqui et al., | ||
| IONPA | Coating reduces nanoparticle size | Thoidingjam and Tiku, | |
| UC-IONP, CA-IONP, SP-IONP, AS-IONP, DA-IONP | Coatings decreases surface reactivity | Mai and Hilt, | |
| Fe2O3@DMSA, Fe2O3@APTS | DMSA-coating promotes uptake efficiency | Xie et al., | |
| Fe3O4/Fe@F-SiO2/PDA | Catalase-imprinted shell inhibits catalase activity to elevate H2O2 level | Chen et al., | |
| mag. SLPs | Targeting molecules, responsive molecules, improved delivery efficiency and selectivity | Swietek et al., | |
| Mito-PANPs | Pandey et al., | ||
| Fe5C2@Fe3O4 | Gradient core-shell structure, differential release | Yu et al., | |
| PEGylated FePt-Fe3O4 + doxorubicin | Combining ferrite nanoparticle and chemotherapeutic drugs, chemical and biological agents, etc. improves ROS-mediated tumor therapy. | Sahu et al., | |
| H2O2/Fe3O4-PLGA polymersome | Li et al., | ||
| Fe3O4 + (rapamycin or carboplatin) | Kojima et al., | ||
| DOX-ICG@Fe/FeO-PPP-FA nanocapsules | Wang et al., | ||
| TRAIL/Apo2L-iron oxide nanoparticles | Shi et al., | ||
| S. aromaticum + PVP + Fe-ONPs | Thenmozhi, | ||
| Iron oxide nanoparticles | Broad applicability to a wide range of cancers: HepG2, A549, MCF-7, OVCAR-3, SKOV-3, HeLa S3, AGS, metastatic OC, OTSCC, etc. | Ahamed et al., | |
| Nickel ferrite nanoparticles | Ahamed et al., | ||
| Magnetite iron oxide nanoparticles | Gokduman, | ||
| Fe3O4@LEC-CUR-PLGA-MMS | Ayyanaar et al., | ||
| Fe3O4@CPTMOS/TP NPs | Habibzadeh et al., | ||
| α-Fe2O3 | Ramalingam et al., | ||
| SPIONs | Jahanbani et al., | ||
| SPIONs | Mechanisms: mitochondrial electron transport chain, antioxidant-related genes, mTOR-Akt-p70S6 K and ATG7, etc. | He et al., | |
| 9 nm Fe3O4 NPs | Ye et al., | ||
| PEI-MNPs | Man et al., | ||
| External field enhanced ROS | NiFe2O4/C | Enhanced by ultrasound | Gorgizadeh et al., |
| Citrate-coated SPIONs | Increased ROS production under X-ray irradiation, etc. | Klein et al., | |
| 9–20 nm (γ-Fe2O3)1−x(Fe3O4)x | Klein et al., | ||
| Cetuximab-IONPs | Bouras et al., | ||
| TAT-Fe3O4 | Hauser et al., | ||
| PA-SAM functionalized Fe3O4 and CoFe2O4 MNPs | Klein et al., | ||
| Zn2+-doped magnetic nanoparticles | Improved catalytic activity under NIR photothermal energy | Qi et al., | |
| Bacterial magnetic nanoparticles | Chen et al., | ||
| IONPs-ICG-HA | Wang et al., | ||
| γGDYO-Fe3O4-CREKA (TTIS) | Nanoplatform depolymerizes under NIR Photothermal energy | Min et al., | |
| Pt/Fe3O4@SP-PLGA | You et al., | ||
| FeTiO3@Fe2O3 | 650 nm laser irradiation formed photoexcited electron–hole | Ou et al., | |
| TAT-IONP | Improved catalytic activity under AMF magnetic heat | Hauser et al., | |
| Doxorubicin-loaded Fe3O4 nanoparticles | Orel et al., | ||
| mHAP | Yang et al., | ||
| Magnetic hydrogel nanozyme (MHZ) | Wu et al., | ||
| FVIOs-GO-CREKA | Liu et al., | ||
| Iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles | Magnetic heating superior to extrinsic hot air heating | Ludwig et al., | |
| Co0.2Mn0.8Fe2O4 | 0.5 T static magnetic field | Marycz et al., | |
| IONF@CuS | Synergistic effect of multi-field coupling (AMF and laser irradiation) | Curcio et al., | |
| Fe3O4-Pd | Ma et al., | ||
| Manganese doped-iron oxide nanoclusters (MNCs) | Gupta and Sharma, | ||
| Cascades increased ROS | SPION micelles | β-lapachone increases H2O2 | Huang et al., |
| LaCIONPs | Wang et al., | ||
| Fe3O4@C-FA | Ascorbic acid increases H2O2 | An et al., | |
| Vitamin C-conjugated Fe3O4 | Pal and Jana, | ||
| FePt-NP2 | Cisplatin activates NADPH oxidase to generate H2O2 | Ma et al., | |
| FeGd-HN@Pt@LF/RGD2 | Shen et al., | ||
| FA/Pt+si-GPX4@IONPs | Zhang et al., | ||
| GFD NCs | Glucose oxidase consumes glucose to generate H2O2 | Huo et al., | |
| Fe/G@R-NRs | Ke et al., | ||
| Fe3O4@PDA/GOx NPs | Zhang et al., | ||
| Nb2C-IO-CaO2 | CaO2 as H2O2 supplier | Gao et al., | |
| GO-FeOxH | Graphene oxide produces ROS under laser irradiation. | He et al., | |
| MFMSNs-Ce6 | Ferrite nanoparticles catalyze decomposition of H2O2 to O2 to overcome tumor hypoxia, improving ROS-mediated cancer therapy. | Kim et al., | |
| UCMnFe-PS-PEG | Ding et al., | ||
| MnFe2O4@MOF-PEG | Yin et al., | ||
| Copper ferrite nanospheres (CFNs) | Liu et al., | ||
| HP-HIONs | Zhang et al., | ||
| ISP-NMs | Zhang et al., | ||
| Ferumoxytol nanoparticles | Ferumoxytol acted on tumor-associated macrophages to adapt an antitumor “M1” phenotype, enhancing macrophage ROS production. | Zanganeh et al., | |
| Fe3O4-Au JNPs self-assembled vesicles | poly(lipid hydroperoxide) reacts with released Fe2+ to generate ROS | Song et al., |
Summary of current ferrite nanoparticles used for ROS-mediated cancer therapy.
Having achieved the excellent performance of ROS-mediated cancer therapy based on ferrite nanoparticles on small animal model, there are still many important challenges before clinical application. First, further studies on the development of strategies for controllable synthesis of ferrite nanoparticles in large scale are needed to satisfy the requirement for clinical translation and commercialization. Second, the biosafety should be fully investigated on large animals, as most of the current ferrite nanoparticles biosafety evaluation in vivo is based on small animals, and the biosafety of the nanoparticles remains largely unexplored in large animals and even in human models. It is appealing to combine efforts from the researchers in the fields of oncology, biochemistry, nanotechnology, medicine, and materials to shed light on the future of ROS-mediated cancer therapy based on ferrite nanoparticles.
Statements
Author contributions
SY, SZ, and MZ wrote the manuscript. SY and HZ revised the manuscript. HF provided useful suggestions. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Funding
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81901908).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Summary
Keywords
ferrite nanoparticles, reactive oxygen species, cancer therapy, fenton reaction, external field, cascade reaction
Citation
Yu S, Zhang H, Zhang S, Zhong M and Fan H (2021) Ferrite Nanoparticles-Based Reactive Oxygen Species-Mediated Cancer Therapy. Front. Chem. 9:651053. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2021.651053
Received
08 January 2021
Accepted
09 March 2021
Published
27 April 2021
Volume
9 - 2021
Edited by
Jianhua Liu, Second Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University, China
Reviewed by
Ajay Singh Karakoti, The University of Newcastle, Australia; Lei Wang, Harbin Institute of Technology, China
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Copyright
© 2021 Yu, Zhang, Zhang, Zhong and Fan.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Haiming Fan fanhm@nwu.edu.cn
This article was submitted to Nanoscience, a section of the journal Frontiers in Chemistry
Disclaimer
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