Abstract

Ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of regulated cell death driven by lipid peroxidation, has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy for cervical cancer. However, the mitochondrial factors governing ferroptosis sensitivity in this malignancy remain incompletely understood. PET117, a conserved mitochondrial protein, has been implicated in mitochondrial homeostasis, yet its role in ferroptosis regulation and cervical cancer pathophysiology is unknown. Here, we report a novel role of PET117 in regulating ferroptosis. PET117 expression was significantly elevated in cervical cancer tissues and loss of PET117 in HeLa cells markedly suppressed erastin- and RSL3-induced ferroptosis. Mechanistically, PET117 deficiency attenuated intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, lipid peroxidation, and iron overload. Mitochondrial proteomics and RNA-seq revealed extensive remodeling of the mitochondrial proteome and ferroptosis-related transcriptional networks upon PET117 depletion. Notably, integrative analysis of mitochondrial and nascent proteomes identified acyl-CoA synthetase family member 2 (ACSF2) as a downstream target of PET117. These findings establish PET117 as a novel regulator of ferroptosis in cervical cancer, thereby linking mitochondrial function to ferroptosis regulation.

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