Herein, a new molecular nanoparticle based on iron(III)-tannic complexes (Fe–TA NPs) is presented. The Fe–TA NPs were simply obtained by mixing the precursors in a buffered solution at room temperature, and they exhibited good physicochemical properties with capability of inducing autophagy in both hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2.2.15) and normal rat hepatocytes (AML12). The Fe–TA NPs were found to induce HepG2.2.15 cell death via autophagic cell death but have no effect on cell viability in AML12 cells. This is possibly due to the much higher uptake of the Fe–TA NPs by the HepG2.2.15 cells via the receptor-mediated endocytosis pathway. As a consequence, enhancement of the T₁ MRI contrast was clearly observed in the HepG2.2.15 cells. The results demonstrate that the Fe–TA NPs could provide a new strategy combining diagnostic and therapeutic functions for hepatocellular carcinoma. Additionally, because of their autophagy-inducing properties, they can be applied as autophagy enhancers for prevention and treatment of other diseases.

We report herein the development of a simple, sensitive colorimetric magnetic nanoparticle (MNP)–enzyme-based DNA sandwich assay that is suitable for simultaneous, label-free quantitation of two DNA targets down to 50 fM level. It can also effectively discriminate single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes associated with human cancers (KRAS codon 12/13 SNPs). This assay uses a pair of specific DNA probes, one being covalently conjugated to an MNP for target capture and the other being linked to an enzyme for signal amplification, to sandwich a DNA target, allowing for convenient magnetic separation and subsequent efficient enzymatic signal amplification for high sensitivity. Careful optimization of the MNP surfaces and assay conditions greatly reduced the background, allowing for sensitive, specific detection of as little as 5 amol (50 fM in 100 μL) of target DNA. Moreover, this sensor is robust, it can effectively discriminate cancer-specific SNPs against the wild-type noncancer target, and it works efficiently in 10% human serum. Furthermore, this sensor can simultaneously quantitate two different DNA targets by using two pairs of unique capture- and signal-DNA probes specific for each target. This general, simple, and sensitive DNA sensor appears to be well-suited for a wide range of genetics-based biosensing and diagnostic applications.

Although tannic acid (TA) has been shown to exhibit various biological properties, its properties may be hindered by alteration of its chemical structure. To explore the possible alterations in living system-like conditions, we firstly investigated oxidation reaction and amino acid addition of TA in physiological buffered solutions. Evidently, TA was found to be easily oxidized and interacted with amino acids in a phosphate buffered saline solution at 37 °C. The modified TA samples were found to conserve iron-chelating property, but diminish antioxidant capability and anti-cancer activity. As far as biomedical utilizations of TA is concerned, therefore, the structure alterations by above phenomena need to be taken into account. On the other hand, we might also take advantage of advanced oxidation and amino acid addition of TA by pre-treatment of TA according to our described procedures to generate TA derivatives for utilization in specific applications.