Ferroptosis is a multistep regulated cell death process induced by iron accumulation and lipid peroxidation. Classical GPX4-dependent pathway and GPX4-independent pathways can independently and synergistically inhibit ferroptosis and jointly maintain the oxidative balance of the body. WHO defines obesity as “a condition of abnormal or excessive fat accumulation in adipose tissue, to the extent that health may be impaired,” and obesity is also defined as an adiposity-based chronic disease (ABCD). Obesity is a systemic disease that leads to metabolic abnormalities in various systems, resulting in a series of complications including obesity cardiomyopathy, atherosclerosis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and diabetes mellitus. Emerging evidence shows that ferroptosis is closely associated with the occurrence and progression of various diseases. In recent years, ferroptosis has been found to play critical roles in obesity and its complications. This review discusses the mechanisms of how ferroptosis is initiated and controlled and discusses the research progress of ferroptosis in obesity and its complications.

BackgroundFerroptosis is widely involved in the occurrence and development of various cancers, but a specific mechanism involving ferroptosis in cervical cancer is still unclear.MethodsBased on the expressions of ferroptosis-related genes, a prognostic model was constructed using lasso regression, and the overall predictive performance of this model was verified. An in-depth analysis of the prognostic model was then conducted.ResultsThe prognostic model showed good predictive performance in both the validation and test sets. Mechanism analysis indicated that differences in the tumor microenvironment were the basis of the predictive ability of the model. Notably, CA9 mRNA was significantly overexpressed in cervical carcinoma, tissues but not in normal cervix tissues. A pair of ceRNAs (CA9/ULBP2) could be involved in the carcinogenesis and development of cervical cancer, and the potential target might be hsa-miR-34a. In addition, predicted miRNAs and drugs for these DEGs were identified.ConclusionsWe constructed a prognostic model with good predictive performance, based on the expression of ferroptosis-related genes. Further research found that the ceRNA pairs of ULBP2/CA9 could regulate cervical cancer through hsa-miR-34a. These results identified the mechanism of ferroptosis in cervical cancer, and might provide novel therapeutics for cervical cancer patients.

BackgroundThyroid cancer is the most common malignant tumor of the endocrine system. Most patients with thyroid cancer have a good prognosis, although a small proportion experience recurrence and metastasis and have a poor prognosis. Ferroptosis is a novel form of regulated cell death (RCD); previous studies have confirmed that ferroptosis was associated with thyroid cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the key ferroptosis-related genes in thyroid cancer and their relationship with prognosis and immune cell infiltration.MethodsIn this study, 497 thyroid cancer RNA expression datasets were downloaded from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) cohort and a prognostic risk model for eight ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) was constructed by Lasso-Cox regression. The prognostic value of the risk model and the correlation of prognostic features with immune scores and tumor immune cell infiltration were systematically analyzed.ResultsThe prognostic risk model for eight FRGs (DPP4, TYRO3, TIMP1, CDKN2A, SNCA, NR4A1, IL-6 and FABP4) were constructed and validated in training and testing cohorts. Kaplan-Meier curve and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis confirmed that that the ferroptosis-related eight gene signature had good predictive value for the prognosis of thyroid cancer (THCA) patients. Multivariate regression analysis further showed that the risk score of the prognostic model could be used as an independent prognostic factor for THCA patients. Functional enrichment analysis showed that DEGs in high risk and low risk groups were involved in immune-related biological processes and that there were significant differences in immune cell infiltration between the two risk groups.ConclusionWe identified eight key genes related to ferroptosis in THCA patients. Further studies are now needed to investigate the mechanisms involved; these genes may represent clinical diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.