Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. A key pathogenic factor in the development of lethal
heart failure is loss of terminally differentiated cardiomyocytes. However, mechanisms of cardiomyocyte death remain unclear. Here, we discovered and demonstrated that ferroptosis, a programmed
iron-dependent cell death, as a mechanism in murine models of
doxorubicin (DOX)- and
ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced
cardiomyopathy. In canonical apoptosis and/or necroptosis-defective Ripk3-/-, Mlkl-/-, or Fadd-/-Mlkl-/- mice, DOX-treated cardiomyocytes showed features of typical ferroptotic cell death. Consistently, compared with
dexrazoxane, the only FDA-approved drug for treating DOX-induced
cardiotoxicity, inhibition of ferroptosis by
ferrostatin-1 significantly reduced DOX
cardiomyopathy.
RNA-sequencing results revealed that
heme oxygenase-1 (Hmox1) was significantly up-regulated in DOX-treated murine hearts. Administering DOX to mice induced
cardiomyopathy with a rapid, systemic accumulation of nonheme
iron via
heme degradation by Nrf2-mediated up-regulation of Hmox1, which effect was abolished in Nrf2-deficent mice. Conversely,
zinc protoporphyrin IX, an Hmox1 antagonist, protected the DOX-treated mice, suggesting free
iron released on
heme degradation is necessary and sufficient to induce cardiac injury. Given that ferroptosis is driven by damage to
lipid membranes, we further investigated and found that excess free
iron accumulated in mitochondria and caused lipid peroxidation on its membrane. Mitochondria-targeted
antioxidant MitoTEMPO significantly rescued DOX
cardiomyopathy, supporting oxidative damage of mitochondria as a major mechanism in ferroptosis-induced heart damage. Importantly,
ferrostatin-1 and
iron chelation also ameliorated
heart failure induced by both acute and chronic I/R in mice. These findings highlight that targeting ferroptosis serves as a cardioprotective strategy for
cardiomyopathy prevention.