Hillary Sanatkumar Shah
Mentor: Gnanasekar Munirathinam, PhD
The American Cancer Society estimates that 191,930 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed this year, with the disease causing 33,330 deaths, making it the second leading cause of cancer death in American men.
Existing treatments for prostate cancer include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and immunotherapy. These treatment options show effects in the beginning stages, but ultimately resistance develops in the majority of patients. Therefore, effective treatments for prostate cancer are urgently needed. Ferroptocide (FTC) is a novel small molecule that displays potent tumor suppressive effects in a variety of cancer models. However, the anticancer effects of FTC against prostate cancer are not yet known. In this study, Shah and her colleagues have evaluated the potential anti-prostate cancer effects of FTC using an LNCaP PCa cellular model.
Results from the research have shown that FTC potently inhibits the cell viability of LNCaP cells via elevating ROS, mitochondrial superoxide and lipid peroxidation levels. Specifically, FTC reduces mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and induces mitophagy, leading to apoptotic cell death. The hypothesis concludes that ferroptocide would be an effective anticancer agent against prostate cancer cells.
