Vitamin C Sensitizes Pancreatic Cancer Cells to Erastin-Induced Ferroptosis by Activating the AMPK/Nrf2/HMOX1 Pathway.

ABSTRACT: Ferroptosis is a type of regulated cell death that displays a promising therapeutic pathway for drug-resistant tumor cells. However, some pancreatic cancer (PC) cells are less sensitive to erastin-induced ferroptosis, and normal pancreatic cells are susceptible to this newly discovered cell death. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find drugs to enhance the sensitivity of these PC cells to erastin while limiting side effects. Here, we found that the oxidized form of vitamin C-dehydroascorbic acid (DHA) can be transported into PC cells expressing high levels of GLUT1, resulting in ferroptosis. Moreover, pharmacological vitamin C combined with erastin can synergistically induce ferroptosis of PC cells involving glutathione (GSH) reduction and ferrous iron accumulation while inhibiting the

SUBMITTER: Liu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9338737 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature