Research progress in mechanism of ferroptosis and its role in atherosclerosis

Ferroptosis is a new type of programmed cell death discovered in recent years, which has been proven to be associated with cardiomyopathy, heart failure, atherosclerosis, ischemia/reperfusion injury and other cardiovascular diseases. The typical features of ferroptosis include excessive intracellular redox-active iron, lipid peroxidation and impaired clearance of reactive oxygen species. Ferroptosis could lead to endothelial dysfunction, regulate macrophage death and phenotypic polarization, impact the phenotypic switch of smooth muscle cells and promote atherosclerotic progression and increased plaque vulnerability. Exploring the role of ferroptosis in atherosclerosis will provide new diagnostic and treatment strategies and drug design targets for clinical management and prognosis improvement of coronary heart diseases. In this review, the advanced research progress in the mechanism of ferroptosis and its role in atherosclerosis is summarized.