Genetically modified ferritin nanoparticles with bone-targeting peptides for bone imaging

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Title
Genetically modified ferritin nanoparticles with bone-targeting peptides for bone imaging
Author(s)
Jong-Won Kim; Kyungkwan Lee; Kyoung Woo Park; Moonil KimChang-Soo Lee
Bibliographic Citation
International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 22, no. 9, pp. 4854-4854
Publication Year
2021
Abstract
Bone homeostasis plays a major role in supporting and protecting various organs as well as a body structure by maintaining the balance of activities of the osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Unbalanced differentiation and functions of these cells result in various skeletal diseases, such as osteoporosis, osteopetrosis, and Paget’s disease. Although various synthetic nanomaterials have been developed for bone imaging and therapy through the chemical conjugation, they are associated with serious drawbacks, including heterogeneity and random orientation, in turn resulting in low efficiency. Here, we report the synthesis of bone-targeting ferritin nanoparticles for bone imaging. Ferritin, which is a globular protein composed of 24 subunits, was employed as a carrier molecule. Bone-targeting peptides that have been reported to specifically bind to osteoblast and hydroxyapatite were genetically fused to the N-terminus of the heavy subunit of human ferritin in such a way that the peptides faced outwards. Ferritin nanoparticles with fused bone-targeting peptides were also conjugated with fluorescent dyes to assess their binding ability using osteoblast imaging and a hydroxyapatite binding assay; the results showed their specific binding with osteoblasts and hydroxyapatite. Using in vivo analysis, a specific fluorescent signal from the lower limb was observed, demonstrating a highly selective affinity of the modified nanoparticles for the bone tissue. These promising results indicate a specific binding ability of the nanoscale targeting system to the bone tissue, which might potentially be used for bone disease therapy in future clinical applications.
Keyword
Bone-targeting peptidesFerritin nanoparticlesOsteoblastsHdroxyapatiteBioimaging
ISSN
1661-6596
Publisher
MDPI
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22094854
Type
Article
Appears in Collections:
Critical Diseases Diagnostics Convergence Research Center > 1. Journal Articles
Division of Research on National Challenges > Bionanotechnology Research Center > 1. Journal Articles
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