Cited by 186Redox biology and oxidative stressBioactive Compounds and Antitumor AgentsCancer and biochemical research

Small molecules regulating reactive oxygen species homeostasis for cancer therapy

Zhang, Junmin, Duan, Dongzhu, Song, Zi‐Long, Liu, Tianyu, Hou, Yanan, Fang, Jianguo·2021·Medicinal Research Reviews

Abstract

Elevated intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant defense systems have been recognized as one of the hallmarks of cancer cells. Compared with normal cells, cancer cells exhibit increased ROS to maintain their malignant phenotypes and are more dependent on the “redox adaptation” mechanism. Thus, there are two apparently contradictory but virtually complementary therapeutic strategies for the regulation of ROS to prevent or treat cancer. The first strategy, that is, chemoprevention, is to prevent or reduce intracellular ROS either by suppressing ROS production pathways or by employing antioxidants to enhance ROS clearance, which protects normal cells from malignant transformation and inhibits the early stage of tumorigenesis. The second strategy is the ROS‐mediated anticancer therapy, which stimulates intracellular ROS to a toxicity threshold to activate ROS‐induced cell death pathways. Therefore, targeting the regulation of intracellular ROS‐related pathways by small‐molecule candidates is considered to be a promising treatment for tumors. We herein first briefly introduce the source and regulation of ROS, and then focus on small molecules that regulate ROS‐related pathways and show efficacy in cancer therapy from the perspective of pharmacophores. Finally, we discuss several challenges in developing cancer therapeutic agents based on ROS regulation and propose the direction of future development.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/med.21734

Cites

433 of 433 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

1 retracted

Flagged first, then by citations

6 of the 439 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Zhang, J., Duan, D., Song, Z., Liu, T., Hou, Y., & Fang, J.
Affiliations
  • State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry (CN)
  • Baoji University of Arts and Sciences (CN)
Corresponding author
Fang, Jianguo
Venue
Medicinal Research Reviews
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2020-09-27
Volume
41
Issue
1
Pages
342-394
ISSN
  • 0198-6325 (ISSN-L)
  • 1098-1128
OpenAlex
W3089284011
Cited by
184
References
439
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 3
FWCI
2.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Medicinal Research Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Lanzhou University Institutional Repository (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Redox biology and oxidative stress
  • Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Toxicology › Bioactive Compounds and Antitumor Agents
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Cancer and biochemical research
Keywords
reactive oxygen species, cancer therapy, redox adaptation, chemoprevention, antioxidants, small molecule drugs, pharmacophore, antioxidant defense, anticancer drug development
MeSH terms
Antioxidants, Homeostasis, Humans, Neoplasms, Oxidation-Reduction, Reactive Oxygen Species

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review