Cited by 3,703Ferroptosis and cancer prognosisCoenzyme Q10 studies and effectsCell death mechanisms and regulation

The CoQ oxidoreductase FSP1 acts parallel to GPX4 to inhibit ferroptosis

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Bersuker, Kirill, Hendricks, Joseph M., Li, Zhipeng, Magtanong, Leslie, Ford, Breanna, Tang, Peter H., Roberts, Melissa A., Tong, Bingqi +6 more·2019·Nature

Abstract

Ferroptosis is a form of regulated cell death that is caused by the iron-dependent peroxidation of lipids 1,2. The glutathione-dependent lipid hydroperoxidase glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) prevents ferroptosis by converting lipid hydroperoxides into non-toxic lipid alcohols 3,4. Ferroptosis has previously been implicated in the cell death that underlies several degenerative conditions 2, and induction of ferroptosis by the inhibition of GPX4 has emerged as a therapeutic strategy to trigger cancer cell death 5. However, sensitivity to GPX4 inhibitors varies greatly across cancer cell lines 6, which suggests that additional factors govern resistance to ferroptosis. Here, using a synthetic lethal CRISPR-Cas9 screen, we identify ferroptosis suppressor protein 1 (FSP1) (previously known as apoptosis-inducing factor mitochondrial 2 (AIFM2)) as a potent ferroptosis-resistance factor. Our data indicate that myristoylation recruits FSP1 to the plasma membrane where it functions as an oxidoreductase that reduces coenzyme Q 10 (CoQ) (also known as ubiquinone-10), which acts as a lipophilic radical-trapping antioxidant that halts the propagation of lipid peroxides. We further find that FSP1 expression positively correlates with ferroptosis resistance across hundreds of cancer cell lines, and that FSP1 mediates resistance to ferroptosis in lung cancer cells in culture and in mouse tumour xenografts. Thus, our data identify FSP1 as a key component of a non-mitochondrial CoQ antioxidant system that acts in parallel to the canonical glutathione-based GPX4 pathway. These findings define a ferroptosis suppression pathway and indicate that pharmacological inhibition of FSP1 may provide an effective strategy to sensitize cancer cells to ferroptosis-inducing chemotherapeutic agents.

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  • Lysotracker is a fluorescent acidotropic probe used to detect lysosome localization, quantify lysosome number and size, and monitor autophagy.

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Authors
Bersuker, K., Hendricks, J. M., Li, Z., Magtanong, L., Ford, B., Tang, P. H., Roberts, M. A., Tong, B., Maimone, T. J., Zoncu, R., Bassik, M. C., Nomura, D. K., Dixon, S. J., & Olzmann, J. A.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • Stanford University (US)
  • Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (US)
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
  • Chan Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco (US)
Corresponding author
Olzmann, James A.
Venue
Nature
Published
2019-10-21
Volume
575
Issue
7784
Pages
688-692
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2980472864
Cited by
3,703
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 578 · 2025: 675 · 2024: 754 · 2023: 592 · 2022: 507 · 2021: 389 · 2020: 186 · 2019: 8 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1
FWCI
206.82
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Cancer Institute (DP2CA195761)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM127763, R01GM112948, R01GM122923)
  • National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P42ES004705)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Ferroptosis and cancer prognosis
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Coenzyme Q10 studies and effects
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Cell death mechanisms and regulation
Keywords
ferroptosis, S100A4, AIFM2, GPX4, coenzyme Q10, oxidative enzymes, lipid peroxidation, ferroptosis resistance, myristoylation, plasma membrane, synthetic lethality, lung cancer, cancer cell death
MeSH terms
Ferroptosis, Phospholipid Hydroperoxide Glutathione Peroxidase, Animals, Cell Membrane, Humans, Lipid Peroxides, Male, Ubiquinone, Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic, Mice, SCID, Mitochondrial Proteins, Cell Line, Tumor, Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins, Mice, Heterografts

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