Hemin-Based Polymer Nanomicelles for Ferroptosis-Mediated Tumor Therapy.

Ferroptosis is a newly discovered form of cell death mechanism that mostly relies on the elevation of intracellular iron levels for generating excess reactive oxygen species (ROS). It has great potential for therapy of those cancers that are resistant to traditional therapies. Here, we report hemin-based polymer nanomicelles for ferroptosis-mediated cancer cell therapy application. The designed nanohemin shows tumor microenvironment-responsive peroxidase activity and offers ferroptosis-mediated selective death of cancer cells via intracellular ROS generation from molecular hemin. Nanohemin treatment of murine fibrosarcoma showed the efficient tumor regression, establishing its therapeutic potential for solid tumors. The presented approach shows the advantage of nanohemin over molecular hemin as a potential therapeutic material.