Fig. 1. Balance between ROS production and antioxidant function. (A) ROS (water in the figure) are produced by various mechanisms (drawn as a water tap), and antioxidant function (drawn as a drain) effectively removes them, allowing physiological ROS levels to remain low. (B) Increased ROS generation is frequently observed in cancer cells, and cancer cells increase the level of antioxidant functions accordingly. The cellular level of ROS increases but not to toxic levels. (C) Even higher antioxidant function accompanies ROS overproduction when cancer cells adapt to chemotherapy. (D) Decrease of antioxidant function may result in cellular toxicity.
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