Lung cancer is a common malignant tumor that occurs in the human body and poses a serious threat to human health and quality of life. The existing treatment methods mainly include surgical treatment, Show more
Lung cancer is a common malignant tumor that occurs in the human body and poses a serious threat to human health and quality of life. The existing treatment methods mainly include surgical treatment, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. However, due to the strong metastatic characteristics of lung cancer and the emergence of related drug resistance and radiation resistance, the overall survival rate of lung cancer patients is not ideal. There is an urgent need to develop new treatment strategies or new effective drugs to treat lung cancer. Ferroptosis, a novel type of programmed cell death, is different from the traditional cell death pathways such as apoptosis, necrosis, pyroptosis and so on. It is caused by the increase of iron-dependent reactive oxygen species due to intracellular iron overload, which leads to the accumulation of lipid peroxides, thus inducing cell membrane oxidative damage, affecting the normal life process of cells, and finally promoting the process of ferroptosis. The regulation of ferroptosis is closely related to the normal physiological process of cells, and it involves iron metabolism, lipid metabolism, and the balance between oxygen-free radical reaction and lipid peroxidation. A large number of studies have confirmed that ferroptosis is a result of the combined action of the cellular oxidation/antioxidant system and cell membrane damage/repair, which has great potential application in tumor therapy. Therefore, this review aims to explore potential therapeutic targets for ferroptosis in lung cancer by clarifying the regulatory pathway of ferroptosis. Based on the study of ferroptosis, the regulation mechanism of ferroptosis in lung cancer was understood and the existing chemical drugs and natural compounds targeting ferroptosis in lung cancer were summarized, with the aim of providing new ideas for the treatment of lung cancer. In addition, it also provides the basis for the discovery and clinical application of chemical drugs and natural compounds targeting ferroptosis to effectively treat lung cancer. Show less
Growth factor receptors are activated through dimerization by the binding of their ligands and play pivotal roles in normal cell function. However, the aberrant activity of the receptors has been asso Show more
Growth factor receptors are activated through dimerization by the binding of their ligands and play pivotal roles in normal cell function. However, the aberrant activity of the receptors has been associated with cancer malignancy. One of the main causes of the aberrant receptor activation is the overexpression of receptors and the resultant formation of unliganded receptor dimers, which can be activated in the absence of external ligand molecules. Thus, the unliganded receptor dimer is a promising target to inhibit aberrant signaling in cancer. Here, we report an aptamer that specifically binds to fibroblast growth factor receptor 2b and inhibits the aberrant receptor activation and signaling. Our investigation suggests that this aptamer inhibits the formation of the receptor dimer occurring in the absence of external ligand molecules. This work presents a new inhibitory function of aptamers and the possibility of oligonucleotide-based therapeutics for cancer. Show less