Roles of reactive oxygen species in cell signaling pathways and immune responses to viral infections

• Published in: Archives of virology 2017-03, Vol.162 (3), p.603-610
• Main Authors: Li, Zhenguang, Xu, Xiaoqin, Leng, Xue, He, Minghui, Wang, Jiangke, Cheng, Shipeng, Wu, Hua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Apoptosis; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Humans; Infectious Diseases; Medical Microbiology; Oxidative Stress; Reactive Oxygen Species - immunology; Review; Signal Transduction; Virology; Virus Diseases - immunology; Virus Diseases - metabolism; Virus Diseases - physiopathology; Virus Diseases - virology
• ISSN: 0304-8608; 1432-8798
• DOI: 10.1007/s00705-016-3130-2

Several biological processes as well as infectious agents, physiological or environmental stress, and perturbed antioxidant response can promote oxidative stress. Oxidative stress usually happens when cells are exposed to more electrically charged reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as H 2 O 2 or O 2 − . ROS are well known for being both beneficial and deleterious. Recent studies have indicated that ROS are deleterious to cells, leading to programmed cell death (PCD) at high concentrations. At low concentrations, however, ROS can act as signaling molecules in a variety of cellular processes. In this review, we present an update of our current understanding of the role and regulation of reactive oxygen species in various viral infections, cellular signaling pathways and immune responses. We then discuss how the antioxidant defense system acts as an antiviral effector to limit cell damage.