MD-PhD Student Receives NCI Fellowship to Study Ferroptosis Resistance in Metastasis

Boris Dimitrov, an MD-PhD student in the lab of Art Mercurio, PhD, has received an NIH predoctoral training (F30) fellowship from the National Cancer Institute to investigate how triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells acquire the ability to survive and initiate metastasis.

TNBC is an aggressive form of breast cancer that can be particularly difficult to treat, and metastasis is a major cause of cancer-related deaths. Dimitrov’s fellowship research builds on his recent work showing that a small population of quiescent cells isolated from TNBC, termed metastasis-initiating cells (MICs), is resistant to ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of programmed cell death (Dimitrov et al. Cell Reports, 2025). MICs have lower intracellular levels of iron and higher expression of ferroportin, a protein that exports iron from cells, compared to non-MICs.

Dimitrov hypothesizes that the increased ability of MICs to export iron enables them to evade ferroptosis and underlies their metastatic potential. With support from the NCI fellowship, Dimitrov will test whether there is a direct connection between ferroportin-mediated iron export, ferroptosis resistance, and metastatic potential. He will also examine whether inhibiting ferroportin with VIT-2763, a drug currently in clinical development for  b-thalassemia, can sensitize MICs to ferroptosis and reduce metastatic spread in experimental mouse models.

By defining how ferroportin contributes to the survival and metastatic behavior of these cancer cells, Dimitrov’s work could reveal new therapeutic strategies for preventing or reducing metastasis in patients with TNBC.