Meet your noxious cousins from the Nox family

15th September 2018, Dr Chee L Khoo

Nox family

Noxious family members?

When phagocytes engulf microorganisms, intracellular phagasome bound NADPH oxidase catalysed the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) like superoxide and hydrogen perixoide which kills the microorganism. NADPH oxidase is also expressed on membranes of many other non-phagocytic cells. ROS play a pivotal role in many physiological processes including host defence, hormone biosynthesis, fertilisation and cellular signalling.…