Ferroptosis: Death by lipid peroxidation

In 2012, my lab reported that a novel small molecule named erastin activates a form of non-apoptotic cell death that we termed ferroptosis. My lab members and I found that erastin inhibits system xc-, depleting cells of cysteine and glutathione. Subsequently, we discovered that another novel compound, RSL3, directly inhibits glutathione peroxidase 4 to cause the same phenotype of cell death. More recently, we have identified two additional mechanisms for triggering ferroptosis, and several genetic and pharmacological means of inhibiting this form of cell death. We have also found evidence that ferroptosis is involved in numerous degenerative diseases and can be exploited to target some cancers. Finally, recent work in my lab suggests a hypothesis for how ferroptotic cell death is executed.