Recent progress on targeting ferroptosis for cancer therapy

Abstract

Ferroptosis is a new mode of cell death different from cell necrosis, autophagy, apoptosis, and pyroptosis, which depends on the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by iron-mediated lipid peroxidation, exhibits cellular, molecular, and gene-level characteristics distinct from other cell deaths. Since ferroptosis discovery, it has become a new target for antitumor therapy actively explored by researchers. In this review, we provide an overview of the known mechanisms that regulate the sensitivity of cancer cells to ferroptosis and the research progress of ferroptosis-related drugs (western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, and nanomedicine), as well as the relationship between ferroptosis and cancer treatment, tumor drug resistance, and antitumor immunotherapy.

Keywords: Cancer therapy; Drug resistance; Ferroptosis inducers; Ferroptosis inhibitors; Ferroptosis regulation; Immunotherapy.