Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: PRDX6 Modulates Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Response by Antagonizing Ferroptosis Induced By HDAC Inhibitors
doi: 10.64898/2026.01.21.700636
Figure Lengend Snippet: PRDX6 knockdown increases vulnerability to largazole induced lipid peroxidation stress. (A) Largazole induces lipid peroxidation in HCT116 cells. HCT116 parental and PRDX6 knockdown cells were seeded in a 96 well plate at 10,000 cells per well. After 24 hours, medium was replaced with fresh DMEM containing the indicated treatments for the indicated durations. Cells were then washed three times with PBS, fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS, and stained with 10 µM Image iT Lipid Peroxidation Sensor and 10 µg/mL Hoechst 33342 for 3 days at 4°C in the dark. After incubation, cells were washed three times with PBS and imaged using DAPI, FITC, and TRITC channels. Scale bar, 100 µm. (B) Quantification of panel A. Fifty cells per condition were randomly selected and the mean FITC and TRITC fluorescence intensities per cell were measured. The FITC/TRITC ratio was used as a readout of lipid peroxidation stress. Two-way ANOVA with Tukey multiple comparisons test was used. ** p < 0.01, **** p < 0.0001, n.s.= not significant. (C) PRDX6 knockdown induces iron accumulation in HCT116 cells upon largazole treatments. After indicated treatments, live cells were stained with 1LµM FerroOrange (Dojindo) and costained with 10Lµg/mL Hoechst 33342 for 30 minutes prior to imaging, without washout. Imaging was performed on the Revvity Opera Phenix Confocal System using a 20X water objective and standard settings. Nuclei were segmented using Hoechst signal, and perinuclear cytoplasmic regions were defined to quantify FerroOrange fluorescence on a single-cell basis. Border cells were excluded, and integrated fluorescence intensity per cell was calculated. “High” Fe²⁺ cells were defined using Otsu’s threshold from control wells, and the percentage of high-signal cells was quantified per well. Bars represent mean ± SEM from biological replicates. Statistical significance was determined by two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post-hoc test. *** p < 0.001, **** p < 0.0001, n.s.= not significant. (D) Largazole increases GSSG in PRDX6 knockdown HCT116 cells. HCT116 parental and PRDX6 knockdown cells were seeded in a 96 well plate at 10,000 cells per well. After 24 hours, medium was replaced with fresh DMEM containing 100 nM largazole for 18 hours. GSH and GSSG were measured using the GSH/GSSG Glo assay, with readings normalized using the CellTiter Glo luminescent viability assay. Two way ANOVA with Tukey multiple comparisons test was used. * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001, **** p < 0.0001, n.s. = not significant. ( E-F ) Largazole shows increased synergy with erastin in PRDX6 knockdown HCT116 cells. HCT116 parental and PRDX6 knockdown cells were seeded in a 96 well plate in 8 lanes × 8 wells at 8,000 cells per well. Twelve hours after seeding, medium was replaced with fresh DMEM containing serial dilutions of largazole and erastin2, and cells were treated for 3 days. Cells were then washed twice with PBS, fixed with 4% formaldehyde in PBS, stained with 0.05% crystal violet, solubilized, and absorbance was read at 530 nm. Wells without treatment served as normalization controls. Synergy scores were computed and visualized using SynergyFinder+.
Article Snippet: PRDX6 KD sensitizes the head and neck squamous carcinoma cell line FaDu to ferroptosis with largazole treatment. ( A and C ) After the indicated treatments, both FaDu shNT and PRDX6 KD cells were stained with 1LμM FerroOrange (Dojindo F374-10) or 1LμM LiperFluo (Dojindo L248-10) in complete FluoroBrite DMEM (10% FBS, 1% GlutaMAX, 1% pen/strep) and costained with 10Lμg/mL Hoechst 33342 for 30 minutes.
Techniques: Knockdown, Staining, Incubation, Fluorescence, Imaging, Control, Glo Assay, Viability Assay