Human ferritin cages for imaging vascular macrophages.

Atherosclerosis is a leading cause of death worldwide. Macrophages are key components of vascular inflammation, which contributes to the development and complications of atherosclerosis. Ferritin, an iron storage and transport protein, has been found to accumulate in macrophages in human atherosclerotic plaques. We hypothesized that ferritin could serve as an intrinsic nano-platform to target delivery of imaging agents to vascular macrophages to detect high-risk atherosclerotic plaques. Here we show that engineered human ferritin protein cages, either conjugated to the fluorescent Cy5.5 molecule or encapsulating a magnetite nanoparticle, are taken up in vivo by macrophages in murine atherosclerotic carotid arteries and can be imaged by fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging. These results indicate that human ferritin can serve as a nanoparticle platform to image vascular inflammation in vivo.