antioxidants Review Oxidative Stress in Cancer Cell Metabolism Saniya Arfin 1, Niraj Kumar Jha 2 , Saurabh Kumar Jha 2, Kavindra Kumar Kesari 3 , Janne Ruokolainen 3, Shubhadeep Roychoudhury 4, Brijesh Rathi 5 and Dhruv Kumar 1,* 1 Amity Institute of Molecular Medicine and Stem Cell Research (AIMMSCR), Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Sec 125, Noida 201303, India; saniya.arfi
[email protected] 2 Department of Biotechnology, School of Engineering & Technology (S.E.T.), Sharda University, Greater Noida 201310, India;
[email protected] (N.K.J.);
[email protected] (S.K.J.) 3 Department of Applied Physics, School of Science, Aalto University, 00076 Espoo, Finland; kavindra.kesari@aalto.fi (K.K.K.); janne.ruokolainen@aalto.fi (J.R.) 4 Department of Life Science and Bioinformatics, Assam University, Silchar 788011, India;
[email protected] 5 Laboratory for Translational Chemistry and Drug Discovery, Department of Chemistry, Hansraj College, University of Delhi, New Delhi 110021, India;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +91-7082436598 Abstract: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important in regulating normal cellular processes whereas deregulated ROS leads to the development of a diseased state in humans including cancers. Several studies have been found to be marked with increased ROS production which activates pro-tumorigenic signaling, enhances cell survival and proliferation and drives DNA damage and genetic instability. However, higher ROS levels have been found to promote anti-tumorigenic signaling by initiating oxidative stress-induced tumor cell death. Tumor cells develop a mechanism where they adjust to the high ROS by expressing elevated levels of antioxidant proteins to detoxify them while maintaining pro-tumorigenic signaling and resistance to apoptosis.