The following is a summary of “Ferroptosis is a Protective Factor for the Prognosis of Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis,” published in the May 2024 issue of Oncology by Li et al.
Cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, with conventional treatments such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy often associated with significant side effects. Recently, ferroptosis, a form of nonapoptotic and iron-dependent cell death, has been recognized as distinct from other types of cell death. Emerging research indicates that ferroptosis can both promote and inhibit tumor growth, suggesting potential prognostic implications. However, the exact role of ferroptosis in cancer biology remains unclear. This meta-analysis aims to elucidate the impact of ferroptosis on cancer prognosis.
This systematic review and meta-analysis involved comprehensive searches of PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases. Eight retrospective studies were included to compare the effects of ferroptosis inhibition versus promotion on patients with cancer prognosis. The primary endpoints assessed were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Studies that did not clearly describe hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for OS and PFS were excluded. A random-effects meta-analysis and meta-regression were conducted on the selected study data to evaluate the prognostic differences between the experimental and control groups. The meta-analysis results included HR and 95% CI.
This study has been registered with PROSPERO, registration number CRD 42023463720, on September 27, 2023.
Out of 2,446 articles initially screened, five studies comprising 938 eligible subjects met the inclusion criteria. Eight studies were ultimately included in the meta-analysis after excluding biased studies. The meta-analysis revealed that promoting ferroptosis significantly improved the overall survival of patients with cancer (HR 0.31, 95% CI 0.21–0.44) and progression-free survival (HR 0.26, 95% CI 0.16–0.44) compared to inhibiting ferroptosis. The results indicated moderate heterogeneity, suggesting that biological activities enhancing cancer cell ferroptosis are beneficial for patient prognosis.
In conclusion, this systematic review and meta-analysis highlight that promoting ferroptosis offers substantial prognostic benefits for patients with cancer. These findings underscore the potential of ferroptosis as a novel therapeutic strategy, addressing critical issues such as drug resistance, limited therapeutic efficacy, and poor prognosis in cancer treatment. By harnessing the mechanism of ferroptosis, there is significant potential to develop innovative anti-tumor therapies that could improve outcomes for patients with cancer worldwide.
Source: bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12885-024-12369-5
