How Free Radicals Contribute to Cancer

From e-Articles.info

There may be as many as 10,000 oxidative hits to DNA per cell per day in humans.12 The vast majority of these lesions are repaired by cellular enzymes. Those that are not repaired may progress toward neoplasia (the formation of cancer cells). Because of the continual bombardment of DNA and other tissues by free radicals, the body must obtain ample antioxidant supplies through the diet. Epidemiological studies support a protective role for dietary antioxidants by consistently reporting that populations who consume inadequate amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables are at a higher risk for cancer, heart disease, and other degenerative diseases.

Not only can free radicals initiate cancer, they can also facilitate cancer progression. And in fact, multiple human tumor cell lines have been reported to produce ROS (especially hydrogen peroxide) in vitro.14 Under normal circumstances, few cells other than immune cells produce hydrogen peroxide. Free radical production by tumor cells may help them mutate or display other malignant properties such as tissue invasion. For example, superoxide radicals have been reported to increase the invasive capacity of rat liver cancer cells in vitro. Read More

Understanding Free Radicals

From Healthchecksystems.com

How Free Radicals are Formed

Some free radicals arise normally during metabolism. Sometimes the body’s immune system’s cells purposefully create them to neutralize viruses and bacteria. However, environmental factors such as pollution, radiation, cigarette smoke and herbicides can also spawn free radicals.

Normally, the body can handle free radicals, but if antioxidants are unavailable, or if the free-radical production becomes excessive, damage can occur. Of particular importance is that free radical damage accumulates with age.

How Antioxidants May Prevent Against Free Radical Damage

The vitamins C and E, are thought to protect the body against the destructive effects of free radicals. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals by donating one of their own electrons, ending the electron-"stealing" reaction. The antioxidant nutrients themselves don’t become free radicals by donating an electron because they are stable in either form They act as scavengers, helping to prevent cell and tissue damage that could lead to cellular damage and disease. Read More

Inflammation/ Free Radicals and Parkinson's Disease

From Annalsonline.org (New York Academy of Sciences)
M. FLINT BEAL
The pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) remains obscure, but there is increasing evidence that impairment of mitochondrial function, oxidative damage (free radicals) , and inflammation are contributing factors. The present paper reviews the experimental and clinical evidence implicating these processes in Parkinson's Disease. Read More.

Free Radicals and Parkinson's Disease

From News-Medical.net
University of Virginia Health System

Research by neuroscientists at the University of Virginia Health System shows that oxygen free radicals are damaging proteins in mitochondria, the tiny cellular 'batteries' of brain cells.

This damage may be one main cause of Parkinson's Disease (PD), the chronic movement disorder that affects at least one million Americans. UVa scientists believe the damage is taking place in a large protein structure called complex I, the first stop in the electron transport chain, which produces an electrical charge inside mitochondria. Mitochondria then use this electrical charge to make energy.

Using the brain cells from deceased Parkinson's patients who donated to the UVa brain bank, Dr. Jim Bennett, a UVa neurologist, and colleagues, isolated complex I from the mitochondria of ten Parkinson's brains and compared them to the complex I proteins from twelve normal brains. They discovered that the complex I assembly in Parkinson's had 50 percent more damage from oxygen. The complex I in Parkinson's brains also had evidence of not being properly assembled and had reduced electron flow, Bennett said.

"This part of the protein complex is being damaged by oxygen free radicals more in a brain with Parkinson's than it is in someone of same age who does not have PD," Bennett said. His research is published in the Journal of Neuroscience. Read More.

Free Radicals and Heart Disease

From National Institutes of Health/ PubMed.gov

The Role of Oxidative Stress and the Genesis of Heart Disease

Although researchers in radiation and cancer biology have known about the existence of free radicals and their potential role in pathobiology for several decades, cardiac biologists only began to take notice of these noxious species in the 1970s. Read More.

Free Radicals and Diabetes

From the National Institutes of Health/ PubMed.gov

• Oberley LW.

Radiation Research Laboratory, Department of Radiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242.

The role of active oxygen species in diabetes is discussed in this review. Type I diabetes is caused by destruction of the pancreatic beta cells responsible for producing insulin. In humans, the diabetogenic process appears to be caused by immune destruction of the beta cells... Not only are oxygen radicals involved in the cause of diabetes, they also appear to play a role in some of the complications seen in long-term treatment of diabetes. Read More.