Finding
Paper
Citations: 0
Abstract
Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent programmed necrosis characterized by glutathione (GSH) depletion and lipid peroxidation (LPO). Armed with both the pro- and antiferroptosis machineries, mitochondria play a central role in ferroptosis. However, how mitochondria sense the stress to activate ferroptosis under (patho-)physiological settings remains incompletely understood. Here, we show that FUN14 domain-containing 2, also known as HCBP6 (FUNDC2), a highly conserved and ubiquitously expressed mitochondrial outer membrane protein, regulates ferroptosis and contributes to doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiomyopathy. We showed that knockout of FUNDC2 protected mice from DOX-induced cardiac injury by preventing ferroptosis. Mechanistic studies reveal that FUNDC2 interacts with SLC25A11, the mitochondrial glutathione transporter, to regulate mitoGSH levels. Specifically, knockdown of SLC25A11 in FUNDC2-knockout (KO) cells reduced mitoGSH and augmented erasin-induced ferroptosis. FUNDC2 also affected the stability of both SLC25A11 and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), key regulators for ferroptosis. Our results demonstrate that FUNDC2 modulates ferroptotic stress via regulating mitoGSH and further support a therapeutic strategy of cardioprotection by preventing mitoGSH depletion and ferroptosis.
Authors
Na Ta, Chuanren Qu, Hao Wu
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America