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World J Gastrointest Oncol. Nov 15, 2021; 13(11): 1668-1679
Published online Nov 15, 2021. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v13.i11.1668
Novel perspective in pancreatic cancer therapy: Targeting ferroptosis pathway
Yang Yang, Zi-Jian Zhang, Yu Wen, Li Xiong, Yun-Peng Huang, Yong-Xiang Wang, Kai Liu
Yang Yang, Zi-Jian Zhang, Yu Wen, Li Xiong, Yun-Peng Huang, Yong-Xiang Wang, Kai Liu, Department of General Surgery, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China
Author contributions: Yang Y and Zhang ZJ equally to this work; Zhang ZJ and Yang Y designed and wrote the paper; Huang YP, Liu K and Wang YX edited the work; Xiong L and Wen Y reviewed and revised the manuscript.
Supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81970569 and 81773293; Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, No. 2017SK50121.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they do not have any conflicting interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yu Wen, MD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of General Surgery, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No. 139 Renmin Road, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China. wenyu761507@csu.edu.cn
Received: February 22, 2021
Peer-review started: February 22, 2021
First decision: April 19, 2021
Revised: April 20, 2021
Accepted: August 30, 2021
Article in press: August 30, 2021
Published online: November 15, 2021
Processing time: 263 Days and 2.1 Hours
Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal malignancy with low resection and survival rates and is not sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Ferroptosis is a novel form of nonapoptotic regulated cell death characterized by the accumulation of lipid peroxides and reactive oxygen species involved in iron metabolism. Ferroptosis has a significant role in the occurrence and development of various tumors. Previous studies have shown that regulating ferroptosis-induced cell death inhibited tumor growth in pancreatic cancer and was synergistic with other antitumor drugs to improve treatment sensitivity. Herein, we discuss the mechanism, inducers, and developments of ferroptosis in pancreatic cancer to provide new strategies for the treatment of the malignancy.

Keywords: Pancreatic cancer; Ferroptosis; Reactive oxygen species; Iron metabolism; Lipid peroxides

Core Tip: Many studies have confirmed that ferroptosis is closely related to the occurrence and development of pancreatic cancer, but there are few systematic reviews on the mechanism and treatment of ferroptosis in pancreatic cancer. This review focuses on the research progress of the mechanism of ferroptosis in pancreatic cancer, and summarizes feasible treatment from the perspective of the processes leading to the occurrence of ferroptosis.