Theory of malignant cell transformation by superoxide fate coupled with cytoskeletal electron-transport and electron-transfer.
Signaling and tumor promoting functions have been experimentally assigned to the cytoskeleton, many of them linked to oxygen free radicals like superoxide. Superoxide and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been associated for many years with oncogenesis, and they are emerging as important signaling molecules connected to the classical signaling pathways, the cytoskeleton, the cell cycle control, and tumor initiation and promotion. Complex and multifunctional relationships between these entities are being discovered and attributed to specific protein-protein interactions. Theoretical analysis and experimental data indicate that small electronic currents may be carried by semiconduction electron transport along biopolymers. Therefore, it is proposed in this paper that the tumor-promoting effects mentioned above might be under control or modulation of these tiny electronic currents originated in relation to ROS and transported through the cytoskeletal actin microfilament network.
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Johns Hopkins University--Intercampus Program in Molecular Biophysics, WBSB--School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism*; D004579:Electron Transport; D006801:Humans; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013481:Superoxides / Q000378:metabolism*
D013481:Superoxides