Oxidative Stress and Inflammation

Abstract

Inflammation is a part of the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli. Debilitating diseases such as atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and even cancer are the biggest pharmacological hurdles of today. Targeting inflammation is a broad task, since many mediators are involved in onset of particular disease. Among these many mediators, the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species generated by macrophages and neutrophils are of great interest because of their major contribution in establishment of chronic inflammation and cancer. This review elaborates the pathogenesis of inflammation based on involvement of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and the activation of signalling cascades in response to oxidative stress. Understanding this would eventually give a clue for target based therapeutic approach in search of new effective anti-inflammatory drugs.