Research progress on ferroptosis in radiosensitivity of malignant tumors / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

As one of the most effective treatments for cancer, radiotherapy(RT)can eliminate the tumor cells and improve the survival rate of cancer patients. However, radiation resistance of tumor cells remarkably reduces the efficacy of RT. Therefore, it is significant to investigate the resistance mechanism and explore corresponding therapy for cancer. Ferroptosis is a novel mode of programmed cell death. Numerous studies have indicated an intimate connection between ferroptosis and tumor radiosensitivity. The mechanism involves lipid reactive oxygen species accumulation, glutathione metabolism and iron metabolism. It has been reported that ferroptosis inducers can act effectively and synergistically with RT, promote radiosensitivity and further improve tumor prognosis. In this article, relevant mechanisms and research progress were reviewed, and the future development direction of this field was discussed, aiming to provide reference for clinical trials and mechanism research of RT for malignant tumors.