Stresses

Cancer remains a major global health burden driven by genetic, metabolic, and microenvironmental alterations. Although reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress have long been implicated in cancer biology, current understanding remains fragmented and, in several areas, conceptually disputed considering how ROS and oxidative stress thresholds determine the switch between tumor-promoting signaling and cytotoxic outcomes, and whether redox-based therapies can be safely and selectively applied across different cancer types. Moreover, existing studies often examine isolated pathways or single ROS, leaving unanswered the question of how spatial and temporal ROS dynamics and oxidative stress responses shape carcinogenesis, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance. This review moves beyond descriptive summarization by critically examining unresolved mechanistic gaps, including (i) how ROS and oxidative stress interact with epigenetic and metabolic reprogramming, (ii) the context-dependent role of ROS-driven oxidative stress within the tumor microenvironment and immune evasion, and (iii) why ROS-targeting and oxidative stress-modulating therapies have shown inconsistent clinical translation despite promising preclinical data. We highlight areas of consensus as well as conflicting evidence, synthesizing recent advances across multiple cancer types to clarify where ROS and oxidative stress function as drivers, modulators, or vulnerabilities. Finally, we outline emerging research priorities, such as real-time redox profiling, subtype-specific targeting strategies, and combination approaches, to guide the development of more precise and effective ROS- and oxidative-stress-based interventions.

Herbicide treatment for agricultural crops may cause dramatic damage to production amount and quality. The aim of the present investigation was to compare different silicon formulations to assess their efficiency in maintaining faba bean plant growth with the herbicide spray Dicameron. Soil pollution due to Dicameron caused an intensive oxidant stress, decreasing bean pods, seed number and weight, antioxidant activity (AOA) and polyphenol content (TP), leaf chlorophyll, and carotene, sharply increasing proline level, and creating pod and leaf anomalies. All the Si formulations, i.e., ionic Si forms in the presence of microelements (Siliplant) or terpenes (BioSi), Si nanoparticles, and organic silicon adjuvant siloxane polyalkylene oxide (Atomic), significantly restored bean antioxidant status and leaf photosynthetic pigment accumulation, enhancing plant defense, as indicated by the proline level decrease. Only the ionic form of Si in the Siliplant formulation, containing essential microelements, facilitated the recovery of pod form and seed weight, while nano-Si was the most effective treatment for bean AOA restoration, and Atomic was the best in rebalancing chlorophyll and the worst in decreasing proline content. A strong beneficial effect of ionic Si in the presence of terpenes (BioSi) was recorded only on the yield of the control plants which did not undergo herbicide spraying. The results indicate a moderate beneficial effect of siloxane adjuvant on plant performance and antioxidant defense level and the highest positive impact on broad bean protection in response to the ionic Si (Siliplant formulation) supply also containing Cu, Zn, Mo, Mn, Fe, and B.

White leaf spot disease [Neopseudocercosporella capsellae (Ellis & Everhart) S.I.R.Videira & P.W.Crous] poses a significant threat to rapeseed production globally. The herbicides atrazine and glyphosate are widely applied to herbicide-tolerant major crops, including rapeseed. Herbicides can affect disease levels directly and indirectly by stressing host plants, influencing pathogens, and altering abiotic and biotic stress levels in the environment. The specific effects of herbicides on the dimorphic pathogen N. capsellae regarding hyphal growth, conidial germination rate, and the morphological transformation from multi-celled hyphae or conidia into numerous single-celled blastospores remain unknown. Hence, studies were performed on two agar media [malt extract agar (MEA) and water agar (WA)] to determine how atrazine and glyphosate, each applied at 1 g a.i. L⁻¹ or the commercial recommended concentrations of 10 and 7.8 g a.i. L⁻¹, respectively, affect these characteristics in four highly pathogenic isolates of N. capsellae. Across a 32-day assessment period, the hyphal growth of all four isolates subcultured individually on MEA or WA was significantly restricted by both concentrations of atrazine and glyphosate. For both atrazine and glyphosate, restriction of hyphal growth was much greater at the higher commercial recommended concentration. Glyphosate restricted hyphal growth more than atrazine for each comparative concentration. Using a mixture of all four isolates, a similar trend of suppression by atrazine or glyphosate occurred in relation to conidial germination and the morphological transformation from multi-celled hyphae or conidia into numerous single-celled blastospores. These new insights into how herbicides constrain hyphal growth, conidial germination, and morphological transformation suggest their potential as a control measure in herbicide-tolerant crops to limit the epidemic spread and development of not only N. capsellae in rapeseed but other dimorphic fungal pathogens as well.