From Microenvironment Remediation to Novel Anti-Cancer Strategy: The Emergence of Zero Valent Iron Nanoparticles

Ya-Na Wu; Li-Xing Yang; Pei-Wen Wang; Filip Braet; Dar-Bin Shieh

doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics14010099

From Microenvironment Remediation to Novel Anti-Cancer Strategy: The Emergence of Zero Valent Iron Nanoparticles

Pharmaceutics. 2022 Jan 2;14(1):99. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14010099.

Authors

Ya-Na Wu^{1

2}, Li-Xing Yang³, Pei-Wen Wang¹, Filip Braet^{4

5

6}, Dar-Bin Shieh^{1

7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ School of Dentistry & Institute of Oral Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701401, Taiwan.
² The i-MANI Center of the National Core Facility for Biopharmaceuticals, Ministry of Science and Technology, Taipei 10622, Taiwan.
³ Department of Photonics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan.
⁴ Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
⁵ Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Medical Sciences (Discipline of Anatomy and Histology), The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
⁶ Charles Perkins Centre (Cellular Imaging Facility), The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
⁷ Center of Applied Nanomedicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701401, Taiwan.
⁸ Core Facility Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701401, Taiwan.
⁹ Department of Stomatology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 704302, Taiwan.

Abstract

Accumulated studies indicate that zero-valent iron (ZVI) nanoparticles demonstrate endogenous cancer-selective cytotoxicity, without any external electric field, lights, or energy, while sparing healthy non-cancerous cells in vitro and in vivo. The anti-cancer activity of ZVI-based nanoparticles was anti-proportional to the oxidative status of the materials, which indicates that the elemental iron is crucial for the observed cancer selectivity. In this thematic article, distinctive endogenous anti-cancer mechanisms of ZVI-related nanomaterials at the cellular and molecular levels are reviewed, including the related gene modulating profile in vitro and in vivo. From a material science perspective, the underlying mechanisms are also analyzed. In summary, ZVI-based nanomaterials demonstrated prominent potential in precision medicine to modulate both programmed cell death of cancer cells, as well as the tumor microenvironment. We believe that this will inspire advanced anti-cancer therapy in the future.

Keywords: ROS; angiogenesis; cancer; ferroptosis; macrophages; nanomedicine; nanoparticles; tumor; tumor microenvironment; zero-valent iron.

Publication types

Review