Bioinorganic Modulators of Ferroptosis: A Review of Recent Findings

Deferiprone ameliorates cisplatin induced peripheral neurotoxicity via ferritinophagy adjustment

Cisplatin-induced neurotoxicity is one of the limiting factors to its use especially in tumors that demand high drug dosage. One of the Cisplatin pathways is ferritinophagy which may end up in ferroptosis. So, we aimed to use iron chelator as a new strategy based on an anti-ferroptotic mechanism and to evaluate its neuroprotective effect against polyneuropathy in Cisplatin-treated rats. Twenty-four male Wistar albino rats were arranged into four groups: (I) Control group, rats were given vehicle; (II) Def group, rats received deferiprone (200 mg/kg orally once daily for 10 days); (III) Cis group, rats were injected by Cis 2 mg/Kg once daily for 3 consecutive days i.p.; and (IV) Cis + Def group, rats received deferiprone (200 mg/kg orally once daily for 10 days, rats were injected with Cis in the 4th, 5th, and 6th days). Cis increased and upregulated ferritinophagy inducers significantly including MDA, NCOA4, and IREB1 as compared to the control group. On the other hand, GSH, GPX4, SLCA11 and FTH1 were decreased and down regulated significantly compared to the control group. In addition to significant deterioration in the histopathological and immunological nerve tissue assessment using silver stain and PNCA. Embracing the cisplatin dosage with deferiprone reversed cisplatin-induced neuropathy, in which the physiological function significantly improved along with the immune and histopathology of nerve tissue. This was accompanied by down regulation of ferritinophagy inducers and enhancing ferritinophagy inhibitors. The current results concluded that rapping cisplatin with deferiprone can mitigate neurotoxicity induced by cisplatin in experimental animals through ferritinophagy pathway adjustment.

Radical Scavenging and Anti-Ferroptotic Molecular Mechanism of Olanzapine: Insight from a Computational Analysis

Olanzapine is an antipsychotic drug that has been reported to suppress ferroptosis, a recently discovered form of regulated cell death. In this work, the scavenging activity of olanzapine and some of its metabolites is investigated in silico using state-of-the-art density functional theory calculations (level of theory: (SMD)-M06-2X/6-311+G(d,p)//M06-2X/6-31G(d)). Indeed, this reactivity is linked to the therapeutic activity of many antipsychotic drugs and ferroptosis inhibitors. Furthermore, the distinction between hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and concerted proton coupled electron transfer (cPCET) is elucidated for the most reactive sites of the studied molecules. Then, a promising experimentally guided anti-ferroptotic cyclic mechanism is proposed for ferrostatin-1, a well-known ferroptosis inhibitor, involving the oxidation of FeII to FeIII, the quenching of hydroperoxyl radicals, and the subsequent regeneration of the reactant (level of theory: M06/6-311+G(d,p),def2TZVP//M06/6-31G(d),LANL2DZ). An analogous cyclic process is investigated for liproxstatin-1 and olanzapine, whose activity has been reported in the literature and compared to ferrostatin-1. Finally, the effect of water solvation is evaluated unveiling that the anti-ferroptotic activity of olanzapine is likely less efficient in polar media.

Ferroptosis-Based Therapeutic Strategies toward Precision Medicine for Cancer

Ferroptosis is a type of iron-dependent programmed cell death characterized by the dysregulation of iron metabolism and the accumulation of lipid peroxides. This nonapoptotic mode of cell death is implicated in various physiological and pathological processes. Recent findings have underscored its potential as an innovative strategy for cancer treatment, particularly against recalcitrant malignancies that are resistant to conventional therapies. This article focuses on ferroptosis-based therapeutic strategies for precision cancer treatment, covering the molecular mechanisms of ferroptosis, four major types of ferroptosis inducers and their inhibitory effects on diverse carcinomas, the detection of ferroptosis by fluorescent probes, and their implementation in image-guided therapy. These state-of-the-art tactics have manifested enhanced selectivity and efficacy against malignant carcinomas. Given that the administration of ferroptosis in cancer therapy is still at a burgeoning stage, some major challenges and future perspectives are discussed for the clinical translation of ferroptosis into precision cancer treatment.

Identification of EGFR as an essential regulator in chondrocytes ferroptosis of osteoarthritis using bioinformatics, in vivo, and in vitro study

Objective

The mechanisms of chondrocytes ferroptosis in osteoarthritis (OA) have not yet been fully elucidated. This study aimed to identify key ferroptosis related genes (FRGs) involved in chondrocytes ferroptosis.

Methods

LASSO, SVM-RFE, and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) were performed to screen key differentially expressed FRGs (DEFRGs). Functional analyses were conducted using GO, and KEGG analyses. Unsupervised clustering analysis was used to identify ferroptosis related patterns. The CeRNA network was constructed to predict the upstream miRNAs and lncRNAs. Finally, we validated the role of EGFR in chondrocytes ferroptosis using in vivo and in vitro experiments.

Results

A total of 42 DEFRGs were identified between OA and normal cartilages. GO and KEGG analyses indicated that these DEFRGs were significantly engaged in ferroptosis related biological processes and pathways, such as cellular response to oxidative stress, positive regulation of programmed cell death, MAPK and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways. Moreover, four key DEFRGs, including ACSF2, AURKA, EGFR, and KLHL24, were considered as potential biomarkers of OA. Moreover, two distinct ferroptosis related patterns were determined, and a total of 882 differentially expressed genes were identified which might participate in extracellular matrix degradation and inflammatory response. In addition, the CeRNA network showed that EGFR could be competitively regulated by 3 lncRNAs and 4 miRNAs. Significantly, the expression of EGFR was downregulated in human OA cartilages, OA mouse model, and erastin induced chondrocytes. EGFR inhibition could induce the occurrence of chondrocytes ferroptosis and ECM degradation which could be reversed by the addition of Ferrostatin-1.

Conclusion

Our study has identified ACSF2, AURKA, EGFR, and KLHL24 as ferroptosis-related biomarkers in OA. Furthermore, we have conducted a preliminary investigation into the role of EGFR in regulating chondrocytes ferroptosis. These findings offer novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying OA.