AB loop engineered ferritin nanocages for drug loading under benign experimental conditions

Abstract

Human ferritin has been explored as a potential drug nanocarrier, but extreme conditions (pH ≤ 2.0) are required for the encapsulation of drugs. Here, by engineering the AB loop of ferritin, we obtained a new ferritin variant with no new pores, which can disassemble at pH 3.0 or 4.0 and reassemble at pH 7.0. Consequently, under mild conditions, drugs can be encapsulated within this new ferritin nanocage.