A focus on copper depletion-induced cuproptosis for cancer therapy

TL;DR

This paper explores a new cancer therapy strategy by inducing cell death through copper depletion, using a previously unaddressed mechanism.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel approach to cuproptosis by leveraging the solubility product principle for copper depletion.

Findings

Copper depletion can induce cuproptosis as effectively as copper overaccumulation.

The solubility product principle is a new mechanism for disrupting copper homeostasis in tumor therapy.

Abstract

Copper has emerged as a promising target for cancer therapy, with extensive studies on copper accumulation-induced cuproptosis. However, the potential of copper depletion-induced cuproptosis remains largely unexplored. Recently, Zhou et al. (M. Zhou, F. Muhammad, Y. Zhang, T. Li, J. Feng, J. Zhao and H. Wei, Chem. Sci., 2025, https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC04712E) reported an innovative strategy for copper depletion-based cuproptosis. Notably, this approach leverages the solubility product principle, a mechanism not previously addressed in studies, to achieve effective tumor therapy through the disruption of copper homeostasis.

Cuproptosis occurs via copper overaccumulation and depletion. While overaccumulation is well studied, depletion is less so. Here, copper depletion-induced cuproptosis is examined (Zhou et al., Chem. Sci., 2025, https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC04712E).

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