Ferroptosis Signature Shapes the Immune Profiles to Enhance the Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Head and Neck Cancer

Construction of a ferroptosis and hypoxia-related gene signature in cervical cancer to assess tumour immune microenvironment and predict prognosis

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to investigate the potential role of ferroptosis/hypoxia-related genes in cervical cancer to improve early management and treatment of cervical cancer.

METHODS

All data were downloaded from public databases. Ferroptosis/hypoxia-related genes associated with cervical cancer prognosis were selected to construct a risk score model. The relationship between risk score and clinical features, immune microenvironment and prognosis were analysed.

RESULTS

Risk score model was constructed based on eight signature genes. Drug prediction analysis showed that bevacizumab and cisplatin were related to vascular endothelial growth factor A. Risk score, as an independent prognostic factor of cervical cancer, had a good survival prediction effect. The two groups differed significantly in degree of immune cell infiltration, gene expression, tumour mutation burden and somatic variation.

CONCLUSIONS

We developed a novel prognostic gene signature combining ferroptosis/hypoxia-related genes, which provides new ideas for individual treatment of cervical cancer.

Ferroptosis in antitumor therapy: Unraveling regulatory mechanisms and immunogenic potential

Ferroptosis, a recently discovered form of non-apoptotic cell death, has the potential to revolutionize anti-tumor therapy. This review highlights the regulatory mechanisms and immunogenic properties of ferroptosis, and how it can enhance the effectiveness of radio and immunotherapies in overcoming tumor resistance. However, tumor metabolism and the impact of ferroptosis on the tumor microenvironment present challenges in completely realizing its therapeutic potential. A deeper understanding of the effects of ferroptosis on tumor cells and their associated immune cells is essential for developing more effective tumor treatment strategies. This review offers a comprehensive overview of the relationship between ferroptosis and tumor immunity, and sheds new light on its application in tumor immunotherapy.

Competing endogenous RNA networks and ferroptosis in cancer: novel therapeutic targets

As a newly identified regulated cell death, ferroptosis is a metabolically driven process that relies on iron and is associated with polyunsaturated fatty acyl peroxidation, elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and mitochondrial damage. This distinct regulated cell death is dysregulated in various cancers; activating ferroptosis in malignant cells increases cancer immunotherapy and chemoradiotherapy responses across different malignancies. Over the last decade, accumulating research has provided evidence of cross-talk between non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks and highlighted their significance in developing and progressing malignancies. Aside from pharmaceutical agents to regulate ferroptosis, recent studies have shed light on the potential of restoring dysregulated ferroptosis-related ceRNA networks in cancer treatment. The present study provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the ferroptosis significance, ferroptosis pathways, the role of ferroptosis in cancer immunotherapy and chemoradiotherapy, ceRNA biogenesis, and ferroptosis-regulating ceRNA networks in different cancers. The provided insights can offer the authorship with state-of-the-art findings and future perspectives regarding the ferroptosis and ferroptosis-related ceRNA networks and their implication in the treatment and determining the prognosis of affected patients.

The roles of ferroptosis in cancer: Tumor suppression, tumor microenvironment, and therapeutic interventions

In cancer treatment, the recurrent challenge of inducing apoptosis through conventional therapeutic modalities, often thwarted by therapy resistance, emphasizes the critical need to explore alternative cell death pathways. Ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of regulated cell death triggered by the lethal accumulation of lipid peroxides on cellular membranes, has emerged as one such promising frontier in oncology. Induction of ferroptosis not only suppresses tumor growth but also holds potential for augmenting immunotherapy responses and surmounting resistance to existing cancer therapies. This review navigates the role of ferroptosis in tumor suppression. Furthermore, we delve into the complex role of ferroptosis within the tumor microenvironment and its interplay with antitumor immunity, offering insights into the prospect of targeting ferroptosis as a strategic approach in cancer therapy.

Tissue biomarkers of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy

Cancer immunotherapy has been rejuvenated by the growing understanding of the immune system's role in tumor activity over the past two decades. During cancer initiation and progression, tumor cells employ various mechanisms that resemble peripheral immune tolerance to evade the antitumor responses of the immune system. Immune checkpoint molecules are the major mechanism of immune resistance that are exploited by tumor cells to inhibit T-cell activation and suppress immune responses. The targeting of immune checkpoint pathways has led to substantial improvements in survival rates in a number of solid cancers. However, a lack of understanding of the heterogeneity of the tumor microenvironment (TME) has resulted in inefficient therapy responses. A greater understanding of the TME is needed to identify patients likely to respond, and those that will have resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Advancement in spatial single-cell technologies has allowed deeper insight into the phenotypic and functional diversities of cells in the TME. In this review, we provide an overview of ICI biomarkers and highlight how high-dimensional spatially resolved, single-cell approaches provide deep molecular insights into the TME and allow for the discovery of biomarkers of clinical benefit.

Exploring beyond Common Cell Death Pathways in Oral Cancer: A Systematic Review

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common and lethal type of head and neck cancer in the world. Variable response and acquisition of resistance to traditional therapies show that it is essential to develop novel strategies that can provide better outcomes for the patient. Understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms of cell death control has increased rapidly in recent years. Activation of cell death pathways, such as the emerging forms of non-apoptotic programmed cell death, including ferroptosis, pyroptosis, necroptosis, NETosis, parthanatos, mitoptosis and paraptosis, may represent clinically relevant novel therapeutic opportunities. This systematic review summarizes the recently described forms of cell death in OSCC, highlighting their potential for informing diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Original studies that explored any of the selected cell deaths in OSCC were included. Electronic search, study selection, data collection and risk of bias assessment tools were realized. The literature search was carried out in four databases, and the extracted data from 79 articles were categorized and grouped by type of cell death. Ferroptosis, pyroptosis, and necroptosis represented the main forms of cell death in the selected studies, with links to cancer immunity and inflammatory responses, progression and prognosis of OSCC. Harnessing the potential of these pathways may be useful in patient-specific prognosis and individualized therapy. We provide perspectives on how these different cell death types can be integrated to develop decision tools for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of OSCC.

Baicalin induces ferroptosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma by suppressing the activity of FTH1

BACKGROUND

This study investigated the role of the ferroptosis-related gene FTH1 in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and evaluated the therapeutic potential of baicalin in OSCC cell treatment.

METHODS

A prognostic model was established by bioinformatic analysis, consisting of 12 ferroptosis related genes (FRGs), and FTH1 was selected as the most significantly up-regulated FRGs. The clinical correlation of FTH1 in OSCC samples was evaluated by both immunohistochemical and bioinformatic characterizations. The effects of FTH1 on migration, invasion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and proliferation were determined by wound healing assays, transwell assays, western blotting and 5'-ethynl 2'-deoxyuridine proliferation assays, respectively. The effects of FTH1 on ferroptosis were tested via ferroptosis markers and Mito Tracker staining. In addition, the therapeutic effects of baicalin on OSCC cells were confirmed using EMT, migration, invasion, proliferation and ferroptosis assays.

RESULTS

The 12 FRGs were predictive of the prognosis for OSCC patients, and FTH1 expression was identified as significantly up-regulated in OSCC samples, which was highly associated with survival, immune cell infiltration and drug sensitivity. Moreover, knocking down FTH1 inhibited cell proliferation, EMT and invasive phenotypes, but induced ferroptosis in OSCC cells (Cal27 and SCC25). Furthermore, baicalin directly suppressed expression of FTH1 in OSCC cells, and effectively promoted ferroptosis and inhibited the proliferation as well as EMT by directly targeting FTH1.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has demonstrated that FTH1 is a therapeutic target for OSCC treatment, and has provided evidence that baicalin offers a promising alternative for OSCC treatment.

New perspectives on biology, disease progression, and therapy response of head and neck cancer gained from single cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most frequent cancers worldwide. The main risk factors are consumption of tobacco products and alcohol, as well as infection with human papilloma virus. Approved therapeutic options comprise surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, targeted therapy through epidermal growth factor receptor inhibition, and immunotherapy, but outcome has remained unsatisfactory due to recurrence rates of ~50% and the frequent occurrence of second primaries. The availability of the human genome sequence at the beginning of the millennium heralded the omics era, in which rapid technological progress has advanced our knowledge of the molecular biology of malignant diseases, including HNSCC, at an unprecedented pace. Initially, microarray-based methods, followed by approaches based on next-generation sequencing, were applied to study the genetics, epigenetics, and gene expression patterns of bulk tumors. More recently, the advent of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) and spatial transcriptomics methods has facilitated the investigation of the heterogeneity between and within different cell populations in the tumor microenvironment (e.g., cancer cells, fibroblasts, immune cells, endothelial cells), led to the discovery of novel cell types, and advanced the discovery of cell-cell communication within tumors. This review provides an overview of scRNAseq, spatial transcriptomics, and the associated bioinformatics methods, and summarizes how their application has promoted our understanding of the emergence, composition, progression, and therapy responsiveness of, and intercellular signaling within, HNSCC.

RSL3 Inhibits Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Replication by Activating Ferroptosis

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is a highly contagious coronavirus that induces diarrhea and death in neonatal piglets, resulting in substantial economic losses to the global swine industry. The mechanisms of PEDV infection and the roles of host factors are still under exploration. In this study, we used the ferroptosis pathway downstream target activator (1S,3R)-RSL3 compound as a starting point, combined with the interactions of N-acetylcysteine and deferoxamine, to elucidate the effects of a series of compounds on PEDV proliferation. We also established glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) gene overexpression to further elucidate the relationship between the ferroptosis pathway and PEDV. (1S,3R)-RSL3 inhibited PEDV replication in Vero cells, while N-acetylcysteine and deferoxamine promoted its proliferation. In addition, (1S,3R)-RSL3 mainly affected the replication stage of PEDV. Overexpression of GPX4 promoted PEDV proliferation, indicating that the ferroptosis pathway could influence PEDV replication in Vero cells. This study focused on the mechanism of (1S,3R)-RSL3 inhibition on PEDV, laying the foundation for exploring the pathogenic mechanisms of PEDV and drug development.

Iron, Ferroptosis, and Head and Neck Cancer

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent regulatory form of cell death characterized by the accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation. It plays a critical role not only in promoting drug resistance in tumors, but also in shaping therapeutic approaches for various malignancies. This review aims to elucidate the relationship between ferroptosis and head and neck cancer treatment by discussing its conceptual framework, mechanism of action, functional aspects, and implications for tumor therapy. In addition, this review consolidates strategies aimed at improving the efficacy of head and neck cancer treatment through modulation of ferroptosis, herein serving as a valuable reference for advancing the treatment landscape for this patient population.