Final Report Summary - CARDIOREDOX (Redox sensing and signalling in cardiovascular health and disease)
The CARDIOREDOX programme has greatly increased our understanding of how oxidants and electrophile molecules induce biological actions in cells, tissues and animals. Oxidants were once predominately considered harmful entities that damage biological systems to cause disease, but this this research programme has contributed to an increasing body of evidence that shows this is an outdated concept that is too simplistic and significantly incorrect. Whilst oxidants may contribute to the pathogenesis of disease, our studies together with those of others, show they play important regulatory roles in healthy tissue, and the signalling that they can initiate are important for adaptation and maintenance of health during stress that can otherwise lead to disease. A regulatory role for oxidants is consistent with substantive, cumulative evidence from large-scale human clinical trials showing antioxidants are not therapeutic and in some cases have caused harm by worsening disease outcomes.