Troubling bonds: lipid unsaturation promotes selenium dependency and sensitivity to ferroptosis

Cancer cells exhibit a remarkable ability to orchestrate metabolic adaptations to survive and proliferate. Such metabolic adaptations, including carbohydrates, amino acids and lipid metabolism, have been shown to also contribute to the pathological cascade during cancer progression and therapy resistance. Importantly, these adaptations provide a rational for targeted therapies inducing selective cell death. Recently, two studies by Lorito et al (Lorito et al, 2024) and Ackermann et al (Ackermann et al, 2024) published in EMBO Molecular Medicine reported examples of alterations in lipid metabolism that can promote targetable vulnerabilities for tumors with poor prognosis. J. P. Friedmann-Angeli and A. F. dos Santos highlight two complementary studies recently published in EMBO Mol. Med. reporting examples of alterations in lipid metabolism that can promote targetable vulnerabilities for breast tumors with poor prognosis.