Advances in redox imaging for cancer diagnosis and therapy

Cancer remains a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality, necessitating continuous innovations in diagnosis and therapy. Redox biology, the balance between reactive oxygen species production and antioxidant defenses, plays a central role in tumor initiation, progression, and therapeutic response. Elevated reactive oxygen species levels drive DNA damage, genomic instability, and tumor-promoting signaling, whereas adaptive antioxidant responses promote survival, therapeutic resistance, and recurrence. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy partly exert their cytotoxic effects through reactive oxygen species generation. However, tumors with enhanced redox-buffering capacity often evade reactive oxygen species-mediated killing. Ferroptosis, iron-dependent cell death driven by lipid peroxidation, is a key redox-linked pathway that synergizes with radiotherapy, offering new radiosensitization strategies. Redox imaging is a non-invasive approach to map oxidative and reductive dynamics in tumors. This review outlines the unique strengths of advancements, including optical imaging with redox-sensitive probes, positron emission tomography tracers targeting glutamine metabolism or system Xc−, magnetic resonance imaging with nitroxide-based probes and dynamic nuclear polarization, and electron paramagnetic resonance imaging. Together, these developments underscore the potential of redox imaging as a research and clinical tool. By enabling functional tumor characterization, patient stratification, and treatment monitoring, redox-based imaging provides a framework for precision oncology and development of redox-modulating therapies.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Journal of clinical biochemistry and nutrition

• Publication date

  2025-11-06

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Chemistry

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3164/jcbn.25-211PMID 41589127PMCID 12832139
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Nitroxides: Chemistry, Antioxidant Properties, and Biomedical Applications

  2025cited by this paper
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  2025cited by this paper
• Three‐dimensional whole‐body imaging of the bioreduction and clearance of nitroxide probes in the thoracic and abdominal regions of mice using a compact and mobile electron paramagnetic resonance imager

  2025cited by this paper
• Feasibility study of multimodal imaging for redox status and glucose metabolism in tumor.

  2024cited by this paper
• Quantitative spatial visualization of X-ray irradiation via redox reaction by dynamic nuclear polarization magnetic resonance imaging.

  2024cited by this paper
• Comparative Evaluation of [18F]5-Fluoroaminosuberic Acid and (4S)-4-3-[18F]fluoropropyl)-l-Glutamate as System xC−–Targeting Radiopharmaceuticals

  2023cited by this paper
• Radiotherapy-induced ferroptosis for cancer treatment

  2023cited by this paper
• Oxidative Stress Inducers in Cancer Therapy: Preclinical and Clinical Evidence

  2023cited by this paper
• Multimodal Functional Imaging for Cancer/Tumor Microenvironments Based on MRI, EPRI, and PET

  2021cited by this paper
• Nitroxyl Radical as a Theranostic Contrast Agent in Magnetic Resonance Redox Imaging

  2021cited by this paper
• In Vivo Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Magnetic Resonance Imaging for the Evaluation of Redox-Related Diseases and Theranostics

  2021cited by this paper
• Ferroptosis, radiotherapy, and combination therapeutic strategies

  2021cited by this paper
• Redox-Sensitive Mapping of a Mouse Tumor Model Using Sparse Projection Sampling of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance

  2021cited by this paper
• Spatiotemporal imaging of redox status using in vivo dynamic nuclear polarization magnetic resonance imaging system for early monitoring of response to radiation treatment of tumor.

  2021cited by this paper
• Radiation-Induced Lipid Peroxidation Triggers Ferroptosis and Synergizes with Ferroptosis Inducers.

  2020cited by this paper
• Design and Fabrication of Compact Arrayed Magnet for Biological EPR Imaging

  2020cited by this paper
• Erastin, a ferroptosis-inducing agent, sensitized cancer cells to X-ray irradiation via glutathione starvation in vitro and in vivo

  2019cited by this paper
• Alteration of Cellular Reduction Potential Will Change 64Cu-ATSM Signal With or Without Hypoxia

  2019cited by this paper
• In Vivo PET Assay of Tumor Glutamine Flux and Metabolism: In-Human Trial of 18F-(2S,4R)-4-Fluoroglutamine.

  2018cited by this paper
• The role of cellular reactive oxygen species in cancer chemotherapy

  2018cited by this paper
• Imaging thiol redox status in murine tumors in vivo with rapid-scan electron paramagnetic resonance.

  2017cited by this paper
• [18F](2S,4R)4-Fluoroglutamine PET Detects Glutamine Pool Size Changes in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in Response to Glutaminase Inhibition.

  2017cited by this paper
• Design and testing of a 750MHz CW-EPR digital console for small animal imaging.

  2017cited by this paper
• 18F-5-Fluoroaminosuberic Acid as a Potential Tracer to Gauge Oxidative Stress in Breast Cancer Models

  2017cited by this paper
• Phototoxicity in live fluorescence microscopy, and how to avoid it

  2017cited by this paper
• Fluorescent Probes for Sensing and Imaging within Specific Cellular Organelles.

  2016cited by this paper
• Assessment of the Tumor Redox Status in Head and Neck Cancer by 62Cu-ATSM PET

  2016cited by this paper
• Glutathione and thioredoxin antioxidant pathways synergize to drive cancer initiation and progression.

  2015cited by this paper
• Dynamic changes in the distribution and time course of blood-brain barrier-permeative nitroxides in the mouse head with EPR imaging: visualization of blood flow in a mouse model of ischemia.

  2014cited by this paper
• Functional Imaging of Oxidative Stress with a Novel PET Imaging Agent, 18F-5-Fluoro-l-Aminosuberic Acid

  2014cited by this paper
• The thioredoxin antioxidant system.

  2014cited by this paper
• Mitochondrial ROS in cancer: initiators, amplifiers or an Achilles' heel?

  2014cited by this paper
• Mitochondrial reactive oxygen species and cancer

  2014cited by this paper
• Modulation of oxidative stress as an anticancer strategy

  2013cited by this paper
• Noninvasive mapping of the redox status in septic mouse by in vivo electron paramagnetic resonance imaging.

  2013cited by this paper
• Ionizing radiation induces mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production accompanied by upregulation of mitochondrial electron transport chain function and mitochondrial content under control of the cell cycle checkpoint.

  2012cited by this paper
• Ionizing radiation-induced metabolic oxidative stress and prolonged cell injury.

  2012cited by this paper
• Evaluation of striatal oxidative stress in patients with Parkinson's disease using [62Cu]ATSM PET.

  2011cited by this paper
• Mapping of redox status in a brain‐disease mouse model by three‐dimensional EPR imaging

  2011cited by this paper
• Heterogeneity of regional redox status and relation of the redox status to oxygenation in a tumor model, evaluated using electron paramagnetic resonance imaging.

  2010cited by this paper
• Oxidative stress, inflammation, and cancer: how are they linked?

  2010cited by this paper
• Going deeper than microscopy: the optical imaging frontier in biology

  2010cited by this paper
• Half-life mapping of nitroxyl radicals with three-dimensional electron paramagnetic resonance imaging at an interval of 3.6 seconds.

  2009cited by this paper
• Redox regulation in radiation-induced cytochrome c release from mitochondria of human lung carcinoma A549 cells.

  2009cited by this paper
• Targeting cancer cells by ROS-mediated mechanisms: a radical therapeutic approach?

  2009cited by this paper
• Association of reactive oxygen species levels and radioresistance in cancer stem cells

  2009cited by this paper
• Assessment of tissue redox status using metabolic responsive contrast agents and magnetic resonance imaging

  2008cited by this paper
• Cancer cell killing via ROS: To increase or decrease, that is the question

  2008cited by this paper
• Fluorescent and luminescent probes for measurement of oxidative and nitrosative species in cells and tissues: progress, pitfalls, and prospects.

  2007cited by this paper
• Molecular imaging of hydrogen peroxide produced for cell signaling.

  2007cited by this paper
• Reactive oxygen species in cancer cells: live by the sword, die by the sword.

  2006cited by this paper
• Genetically encoded fluorescent indicator for intracellular hydrogen peroxide

  2006cited by this paper
• High-Resolution Mapping of Tumor Redox Status by Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Nitroxides as Redox-Sensitive Contrast Agents

  2006cited by this paper
• Probing the intracellular redox status of tumors with magnetic resonance imaging and redox-sensitive contrast agents.

  2006cited by this paper
• Metabolic oxidation/reduction reactions and cellular responses to ionizing radiation: A unifying concept in stress response biology

  2004cited by this paper
• Investigating Mitochondrial Redox Potential with Redox-sensitive Green Fluorescent Protein Indicators*

  2004cited by this paper
• In vivo EPR (ESR) : theory and application

  2003cited by this paper
• Feasibility and assessment of non-invasive in vivo redox status using electron paramagnetic resonance imaging.

  2002cited by this paper
• In vivo topical EPR spectroscopy and imaging of nitroxide free radicals and polynitroxyl‐albumin

  1998cited by this paper
• Copper-62-ATSM: a new hypoxia imaging agent with high membrane permeability and low redox potential.

  1997cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.