Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Cancer pp 1–5Cite as

Oxidative Stress

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 46 Accesses

Definition

Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen and a biological system’s ability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates or easily repair the resulting damage. It is defined as a disturbance in the prooxidant–antioxidant balance in favor of the former leading to potential damage. Oxidative stress is believed to contribute to the development of several diseases, including cancer.

Characteristics

The complex of oxidative stress involves a number of cell-chemical elements:

Free radicals include any species that contain one or more unpaired electrons, generating electrons singly occupying an atomic or molecular orbital. The presence of unpaired electrons confers a considerable degree of reactivity upon a free radical. Dioxygen is the main source of intracellular free radicals.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a collective term that includes both oxygen free radicals such as superoxide anion (O2 −) and hydroxyl radical (OH•) and other...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Alexandre J, Nicco C, Chereau C et al (2006) Improvement of the therapeutic index of anticancer drugs by the superoxide dismutase mimic mangafodipir. J Natl Cancer Inst 98:236–244

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Benhar M, Engelberg D, Levitzki A (2002) ROS, stress-activated kinases and stress signaling in cancer. EMBO Rep 3:420–425

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Halliwell B, Gutteridge J (1999) Free radicals in biology and medicine. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Laurent A, Nicco C, Chereau C et al (2005) Controlling tumor growth by modulating endogenous production of reactive oxygen species. Cancer Res 65:948–956

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nicco C, Laurent A, Chereau C et al (2005) Differential modulation of normal and tumor cell proliferation by reactive oxygen species. Biomed Pharmacother 59:169–174

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

See Also

  • (2012) Antioxidant. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 216. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_328

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Arsenic Trioxide. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 285. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_404

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Free Radicals. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1454. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2267

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) MAPK. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2167. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3532

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Multidrug Resistance. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2393. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3887

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Mutagenic. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2412. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3909

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) NADPH Oxidase. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2448. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3959

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) NIH-3T3 Cells. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2520. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_4084

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Superoxide Dismutase. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3563. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5579

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Transformation. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp 3757–3758. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5913

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) VEGF. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3906. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_6174

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Xanthine Oxidase. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3963. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_6270

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculté de Médecine Paris – Descartes, UPRES 18-33, Groupe Hospitalier Cochin – Saint Vincent de Paul, Paris, France

    Jérôme Alexandre, Carole Nicco & Frederic Batteux

Authors
  1. Jérôme Alexandre
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Carole Nicco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Frederic Batteux
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jérôme Alexandre .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Tumorgenetik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this entry

Cite this entry

Alexandre, J., Nicco, C., Batteux, F. (2014). Oxidative Stress. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_4309-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_4309-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation