The maintenance of highly regulated mechanisms to control intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is essential for normal cellular homeostasis. Indeed, most ROS, including free radicals and peroxides, are produced at low level by normal aerobic metabolism and play an important role in the redox-dependent regulation of many signaling processes. In contrast, excessive accumulation of ROS, resulting from an imbalance between ROS production and scavenging, leads to a condition of oxidative stress that can cause extensive oxidative damage to most cellular components, including proteins, lipids, and DNA, and may have pathophysiological consequences. Remarkably, oxidative stress has been clearly implicated in aging and the pathogenesis of several human diseases, including cardiovascular, metabolic, inflammatory, and neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Thus, ROS may function as friends or foes of signal transduction depending on specific threshold levels and cell context.

We invite investigators to submit original research articles as well as review articles that seek to define the involvement of ROS in physiological and pathological signal transduction processes. In particular, we would like to stimulate the continuing efforts to characterize regulatory molecules and mechanisms underlying the maintenance of intracellular redox homeostasis and the physiological and pathological roles of ROS in signal transduction pathways involving cell adhesion and growth factor receptor functions as well as to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the contribution of ROS to aging and the pathogenesis of human diseases. We are also interested in articles describing novel methodological approaches used to study ROS physiological and pathological functions, as well as the development of new therapeutic strategies based on redox regulation of signal transduction processes. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Maintenance of cellular redox homeostasis
• ROS as signaling molecules
• Crosstalk between ROS and small GTPases
• ROS as regulators of cell adhesion and growth factor receptor signaling
• Deadly liaisons: ROS and mitochondria in the control of cell death
• ROS as key regulators of aging
• ROS and vascular diseases
• Role of ROS in cancer progression
• Novel approaches in the study of ROS functions
• Recent advances in antioxidant therapies

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jst/guidelines.html. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: