磁性纳米粒子在生物医学领域提供了许多令人兴奋的可能性，从细胞成像到癌症治疗。目前研究的纳米颗粒之一是磁小体，即由趋磁细菌合成的高化学纯度的磁铁矿纳米颗粒。尽管它们具有治疗潜力，但人们对它们在人类细胞中的降解知之甚少，更不用说它们在肿瘤中的降解了。为了探索磁小体用于癌症治疗的潜力，我们在 3D 人类肺癌模型中在亚细胞水平和纳米级分辨率下探索了磁小体的降解过程。我们使用了最先进的硬 X 射线探针（纳米 XANES 和纳米 XRF），可以识别细胞每个区域中不同的铁相。我们的结果揭示了磁小体内磁铁矿氧化为磁赤铁矿的过程，以及铁蛋白生物合成磁铁矿和水铁矿的过程。© 2024。作者。

Magnetic nanoparticles offer many exciting possibilities in biomedicine, from cell imaging to cancer treatment. One of the currently researched nanoparticles are magnetosomes, magnetite nanoparticles of high chemical purity synthesized by magnetotactic bacteria. Despite their therapeutic potential, very little is known about their degradation in human cells, and even less so of their degradation within tumours. In an effort to explore the potential of magnetosomes for cancer treatment, we have explored their degradation process in a 3D human lung carcinoma model at the subcellular level and with nanometre scale resolution. We have used state of the art hard X-ray probes (nano-XANES and nano-XRF), which allow for identification of distinct iron phases in each region of the cell. Our results reveal the progression of magnetite oxidation to maghemite within magnetosomes, and the biosynthesis of magnetite and ferrihydrite by ferritin.© 2024. The Author(s).