Advances in mechanisms of anti-oxidation

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are a family of molecules that are continuously produced from oxygen consumption in aerobic cells. Controlled generation of ROS in normal cells serves useful purposes to regulate important cellular processes such as cell proliferation, inflammation, and immune response, but overproduction of ROS causes oxidative stress that contributes to the development of cancer, chronic disease, and aging. These hugely different consequences of ROS exposure demand a carefully balanced control of ROS production and disposition, which is largely achieved through the body's elaborate antioxidant system. The human antioxidant system consists of small antioxidants, antioxidant proteins, ROS-metabolizing enzymes, as well as many regulator proteins that mediate adaptive responses to oxidant stress. How such a complex system reacts with oxidants and achieves the required specificity and sensitivity for proper anti-oxidation is incompletely understood. In this respect, new advances in the understanding of the chemistry that determines the reaction of a given oxidant or antioxidant with a protein target provide considerable insights into these and related questions. The findings hold certain promise for new drug development for preventing and treating diseases associated with oxidant tissue damage.