Methylglyoxal (MG) is an endogenous metabolite which is present in increased concentrations in diabetics and reacts with amino acids to form advanced glycation end products. In this study, we investigated whether ferritin enhances DNA cleavage by the reaction of MG with lysine. When plasmid DNA was incubated with MG and lysine in the presence of ferritin, DNA strand breakage was increased in a dose-dependent manner. The ferritin/MG/lysine system-mediated DNA cleavage was significantly inhibited by reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers. These results indicated that ROS might participate in the ferritin/MG/lysine system-mediated DNA cleavage. Incubation of ferritin with MG and lysine resulted in a time-dependent release of iron ions from the protein molecules. Our data suggest that DNA cleavage caused by the ferritin/MG/lysine system via the generation of ROS by the Fenton-like reaction of free iron ions released from oxidatively damaged ferritin.