Cited by 3,579Redox biology and oxidative stressCancer and biochemical researchAntioxidant Activity and Oxidative Stress

Modulation of oxidative stress as an anticancer strategy

Gorrini, Chiara, Harris, Isaac S., Mak, Tak W.·2013·Nature Reviews Drug Discovery

Abstract

The regulation of oxidative stress is an important factor in both tumour development and responses to anticancer therapies. Many signalling pathways that are linked to tumorigenesis can also regulate the metabolism of reactive oxygen species (ROS) through direct or indirect mechanisms. High ROS levels are generally detrimental to cells, and the redox status of cancer cells usually differs from that of normal cells. Because of metabolic and signalling aberrations, cancer cells exhibit elevated ROS levels. The observation that this is balanced by an increased antioxidant capacity suggests that high ROS levels may constitute a barrier to tumorigenesis. However, ROS can also promote tumour formation by inducing DNA mutations and pro-oncogenic signalling pathways. These contradictory effects have important implications for potential anticancer strategies that aim to modulate levels of ROS. In this Review, we address the controversial role of ROS in tumour development and in responses to anticancer therapies, and elaborate on the idea that targeting the antioxidant capacity of tumour cells can have a positive therapeutic impact.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nrd4002

Cites

225 of 225 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?

  • Inhibition of the thioredoxin system has been proposed as a novel anticancer approach.

    “Inhibition of the thioredoxin system has been proposed as a novel anticancer approach34,40,41.”
  • Cancer cells are under increased oxidative stress caused by oncogenic transformation, leading to metabolic alterations that result in ROS production.

    “Recent studies suggest that cancer cells are under increased oxidative stress caused by oncogenic transformation, leading to metabolic alterations that result in ROS production56.”

    From Glutamine reliance in cell metabolism (2020) · cites this paper as [56]

  • High levels of ROS cause damage to proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, membranes, and organelles, leading to cell death.

    “In contrast, high levels of ROS cause damage to proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, membranes, and organelles, leading to cell death.”

Cites

1 retracted

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Gorrini, C., Harris, I. S., & Mak, T. W.
Affiliations
University Health Network (CA)
Corresponding author
Mak, Tak W.
Venue
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
Published
2013-11-29
Volume
12
Issue
12
Pages
931-947
ISSN
  • 1474-1776 (ISSN-L)
  • 1474-1784
OpenAlex
W1969524738
Cited by
3,579
References
225
Citations by year
2026: 214 · 2025: 287 · 2024: 295 · 2023: 319 · 2022: 366 · 2021: 372 · 2020: 342 · 2019: 328 · 2018: 300 · 2017: 273 · 2016: 227 · 2015: 166 · 2014: 83 · 2013: 1
FWCI
14.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Redox biology and oxidative stress
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Cancer and biochemical research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry › Antioxidant Activity and Oxidative Stress
Keywords
reactive oxygen species, oxidative stress, antioxidant pathways, cancer cells, carcinogenesis, cancer therapy, redox signaling, DNA mutations, cancer metabolism
MeSH terms
Animals, Antineoplastic Agents, Humans, Neoplasms, Reactive Oxygen Species, Oxidative Stress

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