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Review
. 2020 Oct 2:8:50.
doi: 10.1186/s40364-020-00229-w. eCollection 2020.

Novel insights on targeting ferroptosis in cancer therapy

Sipeng Zuo #  1   2 , Jie Yu #  1   2 , Hui Pan  1   2 , Linna Lu  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Novel insights on targeting ferroptosis in cancer therapy

Sipeng Zuo et al. Biomark Res. .

Abstract

Ferroptosis belongs to a novel form of regulated cell death. It is characterized by iron dependence, destruction of intracellular redox balance and non-apoptosis. And cellular structure and molecules level changes also occur abnormally during ferroptosis. It has been proved that ferroptosis exist widespreadly in many diseases, such as heart disease, brain damage or alzheimer disease. At the same time, the role of ferroptosis in cancer cannot be underestimated. More and more indications have told that ferroptosis is becoming a powerful weapon against cancer. In addition, therapies rely on ferroptosis have been applied to the clinic. Therefore, it is necessary to understand this newly discovered form of cell death and its connection with cancer. This review summarizes the mechanism of ferroptosis, ferroptosis inducers based on different targets and inspection methods. At last, we analyzed the relationship between ferroptosis and malignancies, in order to provide a novel theory basis for cancer treatment.

Keywords: Cancer; Ferroptosis; Signaling pathway; Therapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Sketch of ferroptosis mechanism. The mechanism of ferroptosis in cells. Cys2 that enter the cytoplasm via systemXc− synthesize GSH with glutamate, glycine and cysteine. GPX4 is a kind of GSH-dependent reductase. When GPX4 dysfunction, lipid transforms into lipid ROS with O2 and Fe2+. L-ROS attack intracellular biomolecules and kill the cell
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Known genetic effects on various cancers via ferroptosis. The known genetic effects via ferroptosis in dominating cancers. These cancers include lymphoma, HCC, RCC, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, and breast cancer. They have different sensitivities to ferroptosis
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