Autophagy-dependent versus autophagy-independent ferroptosis

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent cell death pathway that, until recently, has been considered to be dependent on autophagy. However, recent studies have reported conflicting results, raising the question about which cell contexts determine the roles of autophagy in ferroptosis. This opinion article addresses this question by summarizing the contexts and/or diseases in which autophagy is a driver or suppressor of ferroptosis. The execution of ferroptosis depends on levels of (labile) iron, unsaturated (phospho)lipids and free radicals. We propose that the cell context in which these three factors and/or their upstream pathways are differentially regulated dictates whether autophagy positively or negatively regulates ferroptosis.