Hypothesis: a damaging role in aging for reactive protein oxidation products?

This paper discusses our knowledge of protein oxidation and its relationship to aging. It also outlines new observations from our laboratories concerning reactive species produced during protein oxidation, and proposes that these may inflict damage on other molecules, and hence contribute to the progression of aging. Whereas it has previously been difficult to see how relatively inert protein oxidation products could possibly have any causal role in aging, the detection of these novel reactive species implies a potentially significant role.