Oxidative Stress and Cancer: Possible Beneficial and Antioxidant Strategies (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Cancer Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2025 | Viewed by 1430

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a continuation of our previous Special Issue, “Oxidative Stress and Cancer: Possible Beneficial and Antioxidant Strategies” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers/special_issues/Melatonin_cancer).

The incidence of cancer, a leading cause of death, is constantly increasing.

As we develop a better understanding of the molecular complexity underlying carcinogenesis, interventions can be established for specific mechanisms.

Despite this complexity, scientific breakthroughs have led to the discovery of the various ways in which a cell can undergo tumor transformation. Eukaryotic cells mainly depend on the consumption of oxygen, and many of their activities are related to a balance among reactive oxygen intermediates and nitrogen species. The increase in oxidative stress, if not adequately compensated for by an antioxidant defense, has a significant impact on the quality of life, inducing many inflammatory processes linked to DNA mutation and tumor development.

Proper therapeutic intervention requires a good knowledge of carcinogenesis. Melatonin has demonstrated its role in the modulation of carcinogenesis, but its mechanisms remain obscure.

This Special Issue will highlight oxidative stress and cancer, covering both basic and more (pre)clinical aspects needed to improve therapies.

Prof. Dr. Rita Rezzani
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • oxidative
  • stress
  • antioxidant
  • melatonin
  • carcinogenesis

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 6443 KiB  
Article
Transcriptional Pathways Predisposing to Cancer Oxidative Stress Sensitivity and Resistance Are Shared Between Hydrogen Peroxide and Cold Gas Plasma but Not Hypochlorous Acid
by Debora Singer and Sander Bekeschus
Cancers 2025, 17(2), 319; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17020319 - 20 Jan 2025
Viewed by 974
Abstract
Oxidative stress is universal to all cell types, including cancer. It is elicited by a surplus of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or a reduced cellular ability to defend against those. At low levels (oxidative eustress), this induces altered cellular signaling, while at higher [...] Read more.
Oxidative stress is universal to all cell types, including cancer. It is elicited by a surplus of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or a reduced cellular ability to defend against those. At low levels (oxidative eustress), this induces altered cellular signaling, while at higher levels (oxidative distress), cellular toxicity and non-specific redox signaling become apparent. While oxidation-induced cell death is a hallmark of many cancer therapies, including ROS-producing radiotherapy, some chemotherapies and targeted therapies, photodynamic therapy, and recently emerging physical modalities such as medical gas plasma (a multi-ROS generating technology), less is known about the transcriptional profiles predisposing cancer cells to oxidative demise. In particular, which genes are associated with resistance or sensitivity to ROS overload and subsequent toxicity has not been systematically investigated. Moreover, it is unclear if there are differences between oxidant types, such as hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorous acid. To this end, we here employed 35 cell lines of various origins (e.g., adenocarcinoma, melanoma, leukemia, squamous cell carcinoma, and neuroblastoma). We first performed in-house transcriptomic analysis to assess baseline transcriptional profiles. Second, all cell lines were exposed to four different ROS concentrations of either hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorous, or gas plasma exposure. Third, correlation analysis was performed to identify genes associated with (i) oxidative stress sensitivity, (ii) oxidative stress resistance, and (iii) similarities and/or differences between the different oxidative stress inducers. Intriguingly, distinct gene sets were found for all treatments, and there was a striking difference between hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorous acid, suggesting different modes of action of both oxidants. Full article
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