Harnessing the ROS for Cancer Treatment
摘要
Cancer treatment remains one of the toughest challenges. The paradox role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in different stages of cancer have attracted scientists to investigate the potential cancer therapeutic strategies from redox perspectives. One of these strategies is based on the reduction of ROS in preneoplastic stages of cancer (chemoprevention). Due to the abnormal redox microenvironment in cancer cells, the other strategy is based on elevating the ROS load to selectively kill cancer cells. The former approach includes supplement of exogenous ROS scavengers (antioxidants) or induction of the endogenous antioxidant capacity, while the latter may rely on inhibition of some major antioxidant systems, such as glutathione (GSH) and thioredoxin (Trx) systems, or harnessing some nano-medicine techniques such in photodynamic therapy (PDT) and chemodynamic therapy (CDT). This chapter discusses these redox-based cancer treatment approaches in detail and provides a brief knowledge about the role of redox-sensitive transcription factors in cancer, which may be considered as potential cancer therapeutic targets.