A synthetic lethal strategy to target chromosome 8p deleted cancers

This project aimed to identify a specific target for chromosome 8p deletions. Using large-scale functional-genomic screening data of over 527 well-characterized cancer cell lines. We were able to identify the dependency of SLC25A28 (Mitoferrin-2, MFRN2), a mitochondrial iron transporter, in chromosome 8p deleted cancer cell lines. Interestingly, we found that SLC25A37 (Mitoferrin-1, MFRN1), the paralog of MFRN2, resides on chromosome 8p and is frequently deleted in liver cancer. We found a strong correlation between the cellular dependency on MFRN2 and the MFRN1 expression levels, possibly explaining why MFRN2 is a synthetic lethal target for 8p deletions. Our study discovered MFRN2 as a target for a therapeutic strategy in chromosome 8p deleted cancer specimens. Further, it revealed MFRN1 as a biomarker that predicts the response to MFRN2-directed therapy.