A cell state specific metabolic vulnerability to GPX4-dependent ferroptosis in glioblastoma

Glioma cells hijack developmental transcriptional programs to control cell state. During neural development, lineage trajectories rely on specialized metabolic pathways. However, the link between tumor cell state and metabolic programs is poorly understood in glioma. Here we uncover a glioma cell state-specific metabolic liability that can be leveraged therapeutically. To model the diversity of glioma cell states, we generated genetically-engineered murine gliomas, induced by deletion of p53 alone (p53) or with constitutively active Notch signaling (N1IC), a pathway critical in controlling CNS cell fate. N1IC tumors harbored quiescent astrocyte-like transformed cell states while p53 tumors were comprised of proliferating progenitor-like cell states. N1IC cells exhibit distinct metabolic alterations, with mitochondrial uncoupling and increased ROS production rendering them more sensitive to inhibition of the lipid hydroperoxidase GPX4 and induction of ferroptosis. Importantly, treating patient-derived organotypic slices with a GPX4 inhibitor induced selective depletion of quiescent AC-like glioma cell populations with similar metabolic profiles. Overall design: Mouse brain tumors and treated patient-derived tissue slices were dissociated for scRNA-seq analysis