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Clinical Pharmacology

Commentary: Antioxidants for Cancer: New Tricks for an Old Dog?

Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA

Correspondence: Nima Sharifi, M.D., Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75390-8852, USA. Telephone: 214-645-5910; Fax: 214-648-5915; e-mail: nima.sharifi{at}utsouthwestern.edu

Received October 6, 2008; accepted for publication February 2, 2009; first published online in THE ONCOLOGIST Express on March 5, 2009.

Disclosures: Nima Sharifi:Research funding: Prostate Cancer Foundation

The content of this article has been reviewed by independent peer reviewers to ensure that it is balanced, objective, and free from commercial bias. No financial relationships relevant to the content of this article have been disclosed by the independent peer reviewers.

Traditionally, the main focus of the importance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in oncology is that these species induce DNA damage, leading to a predisposition to cancer. However, it has recently been shown that ROS may have an alternative activity, by modulating tumor cell signaling. Moreover, tumor cell signaling mediated by ROS is readily reversible upon treatment with antioxidants. This emerging evidence on the molecular effects of antioxidants on tumor cells, along with the evidence that the route of administration of antioxidants in earlier clinical trials for cancer could not achieve pharmacologically effective levels, suggests that antioxidants may serve as bona fide signal transduction modifiers for cancer. A re-examination of the current evidence and further study is clearly warranted.