manganese
manganese
Overview
Manganese is a chemical element with broad biological, environmental, and technological relevance. In biology and medicine, it is an essential trace metal that participates in enzyme function, redox chemistry, and metal-dependent signaling, but it can also be toxic when present in excess or in inappropriate chemical forms. Its divalent ion, Mn2+, is especially important in recent biomedical research because it can influence oxidative stress, immune signaling, and biomaterial performance.
In the studies summarized here, manganese was investigated primarily as a functional metal ion or material component rather than as a classical drug target. Recent work has explored Mn2+ in immune amplification strategies, nanoadjuvants, chemodynamic therapy, peptide metal binding, and environmental recovery systems. These applications reflect manganese’s ability to coordinate with biomaterials, modulate redox processes, and interact with pathways such as cGAS-STING and reactive oxygen species–linked antitumor immunity.
Recent Publications Focus
Below is a summary of the newest research publications targeting manganese (sorted by publication date).
Recent investigations have established manganese ions (Mn²⁺) as a potent immunological activator in cancer vaccine and immunotherapy platforms. Manganese has been integrated into lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery systems as a STING pathway agonist, where coencapsulation of Mn²⁺ with tumor antigen-encoding mRNA synergistically enhanced type I interferon signaling, costimulatory molecule expression, and tumor-specific T cell responses [PMID 42418483]. Similarly, a bacterial-based immune amplifier incorporating Mn²⁺ within a manganese-tannic acid coordination shell demonstrated that Mn²⁺ lowers the cGAS activation threshold to hyperactivate STING-mediated immunity while coupled with interferon-β expression, effectively converting immunologically "cold" tumors into immunologically "hot" tumors through near-infrared photothermal triggering [PMID 42029112]. In the context of conventional vaccine development, manganese-loaded sericin-chitosan nanoparticles functioned as both nanocarriers and nanoadjuvants for an inactivated pseudorabies virus vaccine, promoting dendritic cell maturation, CD4⁺/CD8⁺ T cell activation, and achieving 100% protective efficacy in challenge studies compared to commercial adjuvants [PMID 41941907]. Additionally, violet phosphorus-manganese nanocatalysts were developed to disrupt tumor redox homeostasis while simultaneously activating STING-pathway-mediated antitumor immunity through near-infrared II photocatalytic and photothermal mechanisms, yielding an 85.24% tumor inhibition rate [PMID 41330332].
Beyond immunotherapy, manganese-based nanoparticles have emerged as promising diagnostic agents for medical imaging applications. Boronic acid-modified manganese-porphyrin nanoparticles were engineered to evade macrophage clearance and achieve prolonged lymphatic retention, enabling enhanced magnetic resonance imaging contrast for lymph node metastasis detection at reduced doses [PMID 41666758]. At the molecular level, manganese binding to glycosylated antimicrobial peptide analogues revealed that carbohydrate conjugation alters peptide-Mn²⁺ coordination dynamics, forming transient non-permanent complexes with binding affinities in the 10²–10⁴ M⁻¹ range [PMID 41780202].
Complementary investigations have evaluated manganese's behavior in biomedical research contexts. Systematic analysis of long-term cryopreserved serum specimens demonstrated that manganese concentrations were significantly altered during prolonged storage, highlighting the importance of accounting for storage duration in retrospective biobank studies that assess metal composition [PMID 42348576]. At the process engineering level, mechanistic studies of ozone-induced oxidative precipitation established the kinetics and thermodynamics of manganese recovery from aqueous solutions, identifying mass transfer and diffusion-controlled mechanisms that inform critical metal recovery applications [PMID 42233940].