NRF2-KEAP1 as a redox signal-resolution circuit: Beyond the antioxidant switch

The NRF2-KEAP1 pathway is classically described as an inducible antioxidant switch, yet this binary framework fails to explain why transient NRF2 activation is broadly cytoprotective whereas sustained activation drives pathology across cancer, fibrosis, and metabolic disease. In this conceptual synthesis, we integrate evidence from redox biology, proteostasis, autophagy, metabolism, and systems biology to reinterpret NRF2-KEAP1 signaling using concepts from control theory. We propose that the pathway functions as a redoxostat, a signal-resolution control circuit that detects oxidative and electrophilic stress, encodes signal magnitude and duration, executes graded transcriptional responses, and actively promotes its own termination through genetically encoded feedback mechanisms. Central to this architecture is a resolution module involving KEAP1 resynthesis, ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagic turnover, and metabolic restoration of redox-sensitive cysteines. Within this framework, pathological outcomes arise primarily from failure of signal resolution rather than excessive activation, and distinct disease phenotypes can be mapped to specific circuit failure modes including sensor dysfunction, controller impairment, amplifier escape, and feedback disruption. This model reconciles the protective and pathogenic roles of NRF2 under a unified explanatory logic, clarifies why chronic activation is deleterious while transient activation is adaptive, and shifts experimental and therapeutic emphasis from endpoint activation toward restoration of signaling dynamics and resolution.