2. Academic Validation
  3. Ironomycin induces mantle cell lymphoma cell death by targeting iron metabolism addiction

Ironomycin induces mantle cell lymphoma cell death by targeting iron metabolism addiction

  • Theranostics. 2025 Feb 3;15(7):2834-2851. doi: 10.7150/thno.101821.
Sara Ovejero 1 2,  Laura Alibert 1 2,  Julie Devin 1 2,  Tatiana Cañeque 3,  Valentin Jacquier 1 2,  Andrea Romero 1 2,  Salome Amar 1 2,  Matthieu Abouladze 2,  Elvira Garcia de Paco 2,  Ouissem Karmous Gadacha 2,  Guilhem Requirand 2,  Nicolas Robert 2,  Miss Leriem Zellagui 1,  Hugues de Boussac 4,  Guillaume Cartron 5 6,  Johanna Chiche 7 8,  Jean-Ehrland Ricci 7 8,  Charles Herbaux 1 6 9,  Raphael Rodriguez 3,  Jerome Moreaux 1 2 6 9,  Caroline Bret 1 2 6
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute of Human Genetics UMR 9002 CNRS-UM, Montpellier, France.
  • 2 Department of Biological Hematology, CHU Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
  • 3 Chemical Biology of Cancer Laboratory, Institut Curie, 26 rue d'Ulm, 75248 Paris Cedex 05, France; PSL Université, Paris, France; CNRS UMR 3666, Paris, France; INSERM U1143, Paris, France.
  • 4 Diag2Tec, Montpellier, France.
  • 5 Department of Clinical Hematology, CHU Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
  • 6 CNRS UMR 5535, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
  • 7 Université Côte d'Azur, INSERM, C3M, Nice, France.
  • 8 Équipe labellisée LIGUE Contre le Cancer, Nice, France.
  • 9 Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France.
PMID: 40083931 DOI: 10.7150/thno.101821
Abstract

Rationale: Mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL) remains an aggressive and incurable Cancer. Accumulating evidence reveals that abnormal iron metabolism plays an important role in tumorigenesis and in Cancer progression of many tumors. Based on these data, we searched to identify alterations of iron homeostasis in MCL that could be exploited to develop novel therapeutic strategies. Methods: Analysis of the iron metabolism gene expression profile of a cohort of patients with MCL enables the identification of patients with a poor outcome who might benefit from an iron homeostasis-targeted therapy. We analyzed the therapeutic interest of ironomycin, known to sequester iron in the lysosome and to induce Ferroptosis. Results: In a panel of MCL cell lines, ironomycin inhibited MCL cell growth at nanomolar concentrations compared with conventional iron chelators. Ironomycin treatment resulted in Ferroptosis induction and decreased cell proliferation rate, with a reduced percentage of cells in S-phase together with Ki67 and Cyclin D1 downregulation. Ironomycin treatment induced DNA damage response, accumulation of DNA double-strand breaks, and activated the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR). We validated the therapeutic interest of ironomycin in primary MCL cells of patients. Ironomycin demonstrated a significant higher toxicity in MCL cells compared to normal cells from the microenvironment. We tested the therapeutic interest of combining ironomycin with conventional treatments used in MCL. We identified a synergistic effect when ironomycin is combined with Ibrutinib, Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) inhibitor, associated with a strong inhibition of B-Cell receptor (BCR) signaling. Conclusion: Altogether, these data underline that MCL patients my benefit from targeting iron homeostasis using ironomycin alone or in combination with conventional MCL treatments.

Keywords

B-cell receptor signaling; drug combination; iron metabolism; ironomycin; mantle cell lymphoma.

Figures
Products