Ferroptosis suppressive genes correlate with immunosuppression in glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most lethal primary tumor in the central nervous system. Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent cell death. This study aims to identify prognostic ferroptosis-related genes and their role in tumor immunity. We identified by differential and survival analysis that a ferroptosis suppressor was predominant within ferroptosis-related genes with The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) GBM RNA-Seq data. By integrating TCGA and gene expression omnibus (GEO) GBM cohorts, 12 dysregulated ferroptosis suppressors were detected. Among the suppressors, CD44, HSPB1, and SLC40A1 were relevant to overall survival. We then observed using systematic bioinformatic methods a ferroptosis suppressor correlated with immunosuppression that could be attributed to T cell exhaustion and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) evasion. Finally, we observed that a potential ferroptosis-inducing drug, acetaminophen, interacted with CD44, HSPB1, and SLC40A1. Our study is expected to be of great significance in developing new immunotherapy strategies for GBM.