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Temsirolimus inhibits FSP1 enzyme activity to induce ferroptosis and restrain liver cancer progression
Rui-Lin Tian1,† , Tian-Xiang Wang2,†,* , Zi-Xuan Huang1,† , Zhen Yang3 , Kun-Liang Guan2 , Yue Xiong4,* , Pu Wang1 , Dan Ye1,*
1Huashan Hospital, Fudan University; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, International Co-laboratory of Medical Epigenetics and Metabolism (Ministry of Science and Technology), Key Laboratory of Metabolism and Molecular Medicine (Ministry of Education), and Molecular and Cell Biology Lab, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
2School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, and Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Hangzhou 310024, China
3Center for Medical Research and Innovation of Pudong Hospital, and Intelligent Medicine Institute, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
4Cullgen Inc., 12730 High Bluff Drive, San Diego, CA 92130, USA
These authors contributed equally to this work
*Correspondence to:Tian-Xiang Wang , Email:wangtianxiang@westlake.edu.cn Yue Xiong , Email:wangpu@fudan.edu.cn Dan Ye , Email:yedan@fudan.edu.cn
J Mol Cell Biol, Volume 16, Issue 8, August 2024, mjae036,  https://doi.org/10.1093/jmcb/mjae036
Keyword: temsirolimus, FSP1, ferroptosis, liver cancer

Ferroptosis is a non-apoptotic mode of cell death characterized by iron-dependent accumulation of lipid peroxidation. While lipid radical elimination reaction catalyzed by glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) is a major anti-ferroptosis mechanism, inhibiting this pathway pharmaceutically shows promise as an antitumor strategy. However, certain tumor cells exhibit redundancy in lipid radical elimination pathways, rendering them unresponsive to GPX4 inhibitors. In this study, we conducted screens across different cancer cell lines and Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs, leading to the identification of temsirolimus in combination with the GPX4 inhibitor RSL3 as a potent inducer of ferroptosis in liver cancer cells. Mechanistically, temsirolimus sensitized liver cancer cells to ferroptosis by directly binding to and inhibiting ferroptosis suppressor protein 1 (FSP1) enzyme. Notably, while temsirolimus is recognized as a potent mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor, its ferroptosis-inducing effect is primarily attributed to the inhibition of FSP1 rather than mTOR activity. By employing in vitro colony formation assays and in vivo tumor xenograft models, we demonstrated that the combination of temsirolimus and RSL3 effectively suppressed liver tumor progression. This tumoricidal effect was associated with increased lipid peroxidation and induction of ferroptosis. In conclusion, our findings underscore the potential of combining multitarget ferroptosis-inducing agents to circumvent the resistance to ferroptosis of liver cancer cells and highlight temsirolimus as a promising FSP1 inhibitor and ferroptosis inducer, which also deserves further investigation in translational medicine.