Abstract
Glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of malignant glioma, is very difficult to treat because of its aggressively invasive nature and high recurrence rates. RAS-selective lethal 3 (RSL3), a well-known inhibitor of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), could effectively induce oxidative cell death in glioblastoma cells through ferroptosis, and several signaling pathways are involved in this process. However, the role of the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) pathway in glioblastoma cell ferroptosis has not yet been investigated. Therefore, we aimed to clarify the underlying mechanism of the NF-κB pathway in RSL3-induced ferroptosis in glioblastoma cells. We found that RSL3 led to an increase in lipid ROS concentration and downregulation of ferroptosis-related proteins such as GPX4, ATF4, and SLC7A11 (xCT) in glioblastoma cells. Additionally, the NF-κB pathway was activated by RSL3, and its inhibition by BAY 11-7082 could alleviate ferroptosis. The murine xenograft tumor model indicated that NF-κB pathway inhibition could mitigate the antitumor effects of RSL3 in vivo. Furthermore, we found that GPX4 knockdown could not effectively induce ferroptosis. However, NF-κB pathway activation coupled with GPX4 silencing induced ferroptosis. Additionally, ATF4 and xCT expression might be regulated by the NF-κB pathway. Collectively, our results revealed that the NF-κB pathway plays a novel role in RSL3-induced ferroptosis in glioblastoma cells and provides a new therapeutic strategy for glioblastoma treatment.