Oxidative Stress and Aging Diseases

Many aging disorders, including atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), result from years of combinatory impact of environmental assaults and genetic susceptibility.As a major environmental risk factor, oxidative stress, which can be enhanced by smoking and dietary habits, is known to increase the risk for many diseases associated with aging.Systemic oxidative stress not only results in accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), but also damages DNA or modifies DNA structures at an epigenetic level, altering expression of genes that associate with the aging process.Local oxidative stress and ROS can affect cell signaling as well as trigger apoptosis, cellular senescence(definition), inflammation, and even necrosis.Elucidation of mechanisms and pathways, through which oxidative stress modulates these cellular and molecular processes and affects age-related disease pathologies, is the major focus of this special issue.To respond to our call, authors presented their up-to-date studies and results in basic and translational studies of oxidative stress on diseases of aging.ROS and derivatives of lipid peroxidation have been used as biomarkers to diagnose many aging diseases and monitor their progressions.In this issue, O. O. Erejuwa et al. reviewed the physiological and pathophysiological roles of ROS in cancer patients and highlighted evidence demonstrating other potential applications of lipid peroxidation products in cancer treatment, including the use of lipid peroxidation products as a biomarker for a diagnostic tool to predict the chances of cancer recurrence and to monitor treatment progress or how well cancer patients respond to therapy. A. Anand et al. estimated the levels of superoxide dismutase1