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Published: 26 September 2016
Nanomedicine
An iron age for cancer therapy
Amy Tarangelo & Scott J. Dixon
Nature Nanotechnology 11, 921–922 (2016)
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Two reports show FDA-approved nanoparticles can kill cancer cells through iron- and
reactive oxygen species-dependent mechanisms, offering new strategies for cancer
treatment.
Iron is found in all mammalian cells and is required for cell growth and division. However, iron
levels must be tightly controlled, as iron can catalyse the formation of toxic reactive oxygen
species (ROS). Rapidly proliferating cancer cells often contain more iron than normal cells and,
perhaps for this reason, are more sensitive to ROS stress1,2. Whether it is possible to exploit this
sensitivity to treat cancer by increasing iron levels, ROS accumulation or both processes, is
unclear. Now, two reports in Nature Nanotechnology identify two Food and Drug
Administration (FDA)-approved nanoparticles that can selectively kill cancer cells by
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References
1 Torti, S. V. & Torti, F. M. Nat. Rev. Cancer 13, 342–355 (2013).
2 Trachootham, D., Alexandre, J. & Huang, P. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 8, 579–591 (2009).
3 Kim, S. E. et al. Nat. Nanotech. 11, 977–985(2016).
4 Zanganeh, S. et al. Nat. Nanotech. 11, 986–994 (2016).
5 Dixon, S. J. et al. Cell 149, 1060–1072 (2012).
6 Gao, M. et al. Mol. Cell 59, 298–308 (2015).
7 Qian, B. Z. & Pollard, J. W. Cell 141, 39–51 (2010).
8 Sarosiek, K. A. et al. Mol. Cell 51, 751–765 (2013).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Amy Tarangelo and Scott J. Dixon are in the Program in Cancer Biology and the Department of Biology, Stanford University, Room 104, 337 Campus
Drive, Stanford, California 94305, USA,
Amy Tarangelo & Scott J. Dixon
Corresponding author
Correspondence to Scott J. Dixon.
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Cite this article
Tarangelo, A., Dixon, S. An iron age for cancer therapy. Nature Nanotech 11, 921–922 (2016).
https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2016.199
Published Issue Date
26 September 2016 November 2016
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2016.199
Subjects Nanotechnology in cancer
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Nature Nanotechnology (Nat. Nanotechnol.) ISSN 1748-3395 (online) ISSN 1748-3387 (print)
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