{
  "abstract": "Chemotherapy remains the mainstay treatment of many solid cancers; however, resistance and recurrence compromise patient outcomes. We investigated chemotherapy resistance mechanisms in Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) by examining cells that survive chemotherapy-induced apoptotic caspase activation. Using a biosensor that permanently labels cells surviving executioner caspase activation with GFP, we identified a GFP+ population that survives transient paclitaxel treatment. These GFP+ cells display a stem-like invasive phenotype, altered mitochondrial metabolism, and increased drug resistance. Metabolomics profiling identified defects in TCA cycle metabolites and accumulation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Mechanistically, surviving GFP+ cells exhibited Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and ZEB1-regulated repression of GPX4 expression, resulting in increased sensitivity to ferroptotic cell death. Consistent with this, transforming growth factor- beta induced EMT also suppressed GPX4 and increased ferroptosis sensitivity in Normal Mouse Mammary epithelial cells. ZEB1 knockdown strongly reduced the GFP+ surviving fraction, identifying ZEB1 as a key regulator of apoptotic survival. Supplementation with arachidonic acid restored survival in ZEB1 knockdown cells, while the ferroptosis-protective drug, Ferrostatin-1, prevented the accumulation of GFP+ survivors, demonstrating that ferroptosis sensitivity is required for the survival of TNBC cells from chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. Together, these findings reveal a previously unrecognized link between ferroptosis and apoptosis and identify potential biomarkers and therapeutic vulnerabilities in a subset of chemotherapy-resistant TNBC.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Basic and Translational Research, BC Cancer Research Institute, Vancouver, BC Canada",
    "Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC Canada",
    "Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA USA",
    "Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC Canada"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Rachel Hausman",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-1642-4872"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Wells S. Brown"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Shannon J. Awrey",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9905-6853"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hossein Tavakoli",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0856-1649"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Denise J. Montell"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Paul C. McDonald",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7238-2912"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Shoukat Dedhar",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4355-1657"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fcreswe1peknh.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41419-026-09242-7",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13714279/",
  "id": "fcreswe1peknh",
  "issns": [
    "2041-4889"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-026-09242-7",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2740|Ferroptosis and cancer prognosis"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7205009008",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41419-026-09242-7_reference.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13714279",
  "pmid": "42946719",
  "published": "2026-09-02",
  "publisher": "Nature Publishing Group",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fcreswe1peknh.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-01T12:21:48Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13714279",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-026-09242-7"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2740|Ferroptosis and cancer prognosis",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Survival of cancer cells following taxol-induced apoptosis is supported by ZEB1-mediated ferroptosis sensitivity",
  "title_text": "Survival of cancer cells following taxol-induced apoptosis is supported by ZEB1-mediated ferroptosis sensitivity",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T12:21:48Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fcreswe1peknh",
  "venue": "Cell Death & Disease",
  "versions": []
}