The role of reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress in environmental carcinogenesis and biomarker development

Although we have greatly benefited from the use of traditional epidemiological approaches in linking environmental exposure to human disease, we are still lacking knowledge in to how such exposure participates in disease development. However, molecular epidemiological studies have provided us with evidence linking oxidative stress with the pathogenesis of human disease and in particular carcinogenesis. To this end, oxidative stress-based biomarkers have proved to be essential in revealing how oxidative stress may be mediating toxicity induced by many known carcinogenic environmental agents. Therefore, throughout this review article, we aim to address the current state of oxidative stress-based biomarker development with major emphasis pertaining to biomarkers of DNA, lipid and protein oxidation.