Monounsaturated fatty acids promote cancer radioresistance by inhibiting ferroptosis through ACSL3.

Radioresistance is a major challenge in tumor radiotherapy and involves in a mixture of cellular events, including ferroptosis, a new type of programmed cell death characterized by the excess accumulation of iron-dependent lipid peroxides. In the present study, we observed that surviving cancer tissues and cells after radiotherapy had significantly greater glutathione to oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG) ratios and lower lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels than nonirradiated tumors and cells. Untargeted lipidomic analyses revealed that oleic acid (OA) and palmitoleic acid (POA) were the most significantly upregulated unsaturated fatty acids in irradiated surviving cancer cells compared with those in control cancer cells irradiated with IR. Both OA and POA could protect cancer cells from the killing effects of the ferroptosis inducer erastin and RSL3, and OA had a stronger protective effect than POA, resulting in lower lipid ROS production than POA. Mechanistically, OA protected cells from ferroptosis caused by the accumulation of polyunsaturated fatty acid-containing phospholipids in an ACSL3-dependent manner. A mouse model demonstrated that ACSL3 knockdown combined with imidazole ketone erastin synergistically enhanced antitumor effects in radiation-resistant tumors in vivo. Our study reveals previously undiscovered associations between radiation and fatty acid metabolism and ferroptosis, providing a novel treatment strategy for overcoming cancer radioresistance.