Prostate cancer accounts for 3.8% of total cancer-related deaths worldwide. The combination of docetaxel and androgen deprivation therapy is useful in the management of the disease, but unfortunately, prostate cancer cells become resistant to docetaxel over time.
Previous studies have suggested the importance of cholesterol metabolism in multiple myeloma (MM) cells. Since ferroptosis is closely related to lipid metabolism, researchers from Houston Methodist Research Institute aimed to investigate the crosstalk between metabolic reprogramming and ferroptosis in MM cells.
Resistance to sorafenib treatment is becoming more common in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Iron is a crucial metal in the mitochondria and is used for synthesis of cofactors that are essential for the correct functioning and cell proliferation.
Some strategies seek to alter molecular mechanisms that can redirect the programmed death of tumor cells. If you can’t selectively eliminate them or stop their proliferation, ask them to die, but don’t tell any other cells. That is the idea proposed by a group of researchers participating in a Chinese-American collaboration for the design of the new drug N6F11. In a mouse model, the compound caused death by ferroptosis only of cancer cells without altering immune cells.
Leveraging ferroptosis, or iron-mediated cell death, Hillstream Biopharma Inc. has turned up intriguing early stage data in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) when the company’s candidate called HSB-1216 was paired with the anti-PD-1 antibody Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck & Co. Inc.).
Ferroptosis, an iron-dependent cell death mechanism driven by unrestricted lipid peroxidation in the plasma membrane, is an emerging therapeutic target for cancer treatment. The lipid metabolism determines ferroptotic responses, but the lipid remodeling mechanism that determines sensitivity to ferroptosis and the function of phospholipid transporters in this mechanism remain unclear. To shed light on these questions, scientists from Guangzhou Medical University and colleagues have systematically measured the expression of 49 genes encoding phospholipid transporters (phospholipid scramblases, flippases and floppases) during ferroptosis.
Taking its mission as looking at how cells function as opposed to looking at them anatomically, Kojin Therapeutics Inc. is launching with a $60 million series A to accelerate its ferroptosis-, or iron-dependent cell death-, based discovery platform for tackling hard-to-treat diseases, including drug-resistant cancers.
