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‹ Mon · 25 May 2026
Promising but preliminary

Trifluoperazine induces ferroptosis in acute myeloid leukemia by suppressing the Nrf2/SLC7A11/GPX4 axis.

An old antipsychotic drug kills leukemia cells in the lab by triggering a different death pathway, suggesting new treatment possibilities.

Xu J et al. demonstrated that trifluoperazine, a repurposed antipsychotic agent, induces ferroptosis in acute myeloid leukemia cells by suppressing the Nrf2/SLC7A11/GPX4 antioxidant axis in preclinical studies. These findings identify a novel mechanism for AML cell death and suggest potential for drug repurposing strategies targeting ferroptosis pathways in hematologic malignancies.

What the study was

Study design
Preclinical experimental study (in vitro/cell line, likely with in vivo component)
Population
AML cell lines
Category
Drug Development
Maturity
Exploratory
Journal
European journal of pharmacology

Why it surfaced

Drug repurposing for AML is an active and clinically relevant area; ferroptosis pathway targeting is a novel mechanism; however, purely preclinical evidence limits score (non-human study cap: max 5).

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