Identification of Ferroptosis Induction by Treating Atorvastatin in B16F10.OVA Cells

Abstract

In this study, we identified whether atorvastatin could induce ferroptosis or not in B16F10.OVA cells, which is being used to treat hypercholesterolemia. To demonstrate this, we treated the mouse melanoma cell line B16F10.OVA with atorvastatin at varying concentrations, spanning from low to high, followed by a 24-hour culture period. In the group treated with atorvastatin in our experiment, we observed a decrease in cell viability that was dependent on the concentration of the treatment, when compared to the control group. The IC50 value of atorvastatin in B16F10.OVA cells was determined to be 49.89 μM. Compared to the control group, treatment with atorvastatin resulted in a concentrationdependent increase in the generation of reactive oxygen species and the accumulation of iron ions. Moreover, atorvastatin treatment exhibited a concentration-dependent increase in the population of apoptotic cells and the expression of calreticulin, significantly surpassing that of the control group. The analysis of ferroptosis-related protein expression levels revealed a notable decrease in the expression of GPX4 in the group treated with atorvastatin, as compared to the control group. These findings strongly suggest that atorvastatin holds promise as a potent anti-cancer agent capable of inducing ferroptosis in melanoma cells.