Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 26, 2025; 13(24): 104255
Published online Aug 26, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i24.104255
Mechanism of action of cuproptosis and prospects for anti-tumor therapy
Jie Xiao, Yan Wang, Xiao-Jun Yang
Jie Xiao, The First Clinical Medical School, Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China
Yan Wang, Division of Personnel, Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China
Xiao-Jun Yang, The First Clinical Medical School of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China
Co-first authors: Jie Xiao and Yan Wang.
Author contributions: Xiao J and Wang Y contributed to manuscript writing; Xiao J designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript; Wang Y contributed to the discussion and design of the manuscript; Yang XJ contributed to manuscript review, editing, analysis, and supervision; and all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by The National Health Commission's Key Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment for the Year 2022, National Health Commission's Master's and 6/12 Doctoral/Postdoctoral Fund Project, No. NHCDP2022001; and Gansu Provincial People's Hospital Doctoral Supervisor Training Project, No. 22GSSYA-3.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We declare that we have no conflict of interest.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Jun Yang, MD, Associate Professor, Chief Physician, The First Clinical Medical School of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou University, No. 199 Donggang West Road, Chengguan District, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China. yangxjmd@aliyun.com
Received: December 23, 2024
Revised: March 24, 2025
Accepted: May 10, 2025
Published online: August 26, 2025
Processing time: 177 Days and 17.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This study reveals that copper ion-induced precipitation modifies mitochondrial proteins, promoting cell death. Low expression of the associated gene pyruvate dehydrogenase A1 is significantly correlated with improved overall survival in esophageal cancer patients. Tumor cells, characterized by disturbances in copper metabolism, display increased susceptibility to cuproptosis, eliciting diverse outcomes in distinct tumor types. Therefore, investigating the roles of cuproptosis-related genes and long non-coding RNAs in various tumors provides new directions for precision therapies targeting the cuproptosis pathway.