Iron-dependent ferroptosis, a non-apoptotic cell death mechanism, is gaining attention for its role in immune suppression. Ferroptosis, driven by excessive lipid peroxides and iron-dependent reactive oxygen species (ROS), differs from other cell death forms in its immunogenicity. It involves the regulation of the cystine/glutamate transport system xc−, with glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) preventing toxic lipid peroxide accumulation. Ferroptosis-related factors are implicated in various diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Physician-scientists Preet Chaudhary, M.D., Ph.D., and Michael Selsted, M.D., Ph.D., both from the Keck School of Medicine, have been elected as senior members of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), an organization that recognizes inventors holding U.S. patents and promotes academic technology and innovation to benefit society.  Chaudhary holds 12 allowed/issued U.S. patents, 16 allowed/issued international patents, and more than 120 pending applications. These are for next-generation treatments, genetically tailored for individual patients, that help a patient’s own immune system target multiple types of cancer—leukemias, lymphomas, multiple myeloma, and solid tumors. The overarching goal is to equip human immune cells to combat internal threats such as cancer in the same way they fend off external invaders such as viruses. Selsted has made pivotal contributions to the field of innate immunity, with innovations resulting in 60 US patents, 130 international patents, and another 80 pending applications. Selsted and his team were the first to identify and characterize theta defensins, a type of protein found only in old-world primates such as baboons and rhesus monkeys, that act as a crucial first line of defense against infection and disease. The team is developing synthetic versions of theta defensin as drug candidates for treating rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, sepsis, and cancer.