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Uric Acid as a Redox Switch in Gout: Linking Xanthine Oxidoreductase-Derived ROS, NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation and Emerging Ferroptotic Mechanisms

delete2026-08-11
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OA
AI
P
Petar-Preslav Petrov *
D
Delyan Dimitrov
D
Darina Barbutska
Z
Zlatina Nikolova
N
Nikoleta Dimitrova
DOI:10.3390/antiox15080993delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Gout is a crystal-induced inflammatory arthritis driven by hyperuricemia and monosodium urate (MSU) crystal deposition, yet urate burden alone does not explain why only a subset of hyperuricemic individuals develops clinical disease, why acute flares are usually self-limited, or why gout clusters with renal and cardiometabolic comorbidity. This structured narrative review uses a gout-specific redox-switch framework, defined as a context-dependent shift in uric acid biology according to concentration, compartment, crystallization state, xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) activity, inflammatory priming, and disease stage rather than as a binary molecular event. We integrate evidence on XOR-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial stress, NLRP3 inflammasome signaling, neutrophil oxidative responses, neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), lipid peroxidation, and potential ferroptosis-related mechanisms. Evidence is classified into five categories: established, mechanistically supported, human-associative, conceptual, and emerging/unvalidated. The available human data support lipid-peroxidation and ferroptosis-associated molecular signatures, but do not yet establish ferroptotic cell death as a driver of gout. Therapeutic implications are therefore framed conservatively: urate-lowering therapy remains foundational, whereas redox-directed approaches require pathway specificity, disease-stage definition, and biomarker validation. The redox-switch concept is proposed as an organizing framework for mechanistic and translational research, not as a validated clinical algorithm.
Keywords:
gout
uric acid
redox signaling
xanthine oxidoreductase
NLRP3 inflammasome
neutrophil extracellular traps
lipid peroxidation
ferroptosis

Journal

Antioxidants cover
Antioxidants
IF:
6.6
Papers:
1.0W
Citations:
6.7W

Organization

M
Medical University of Plovdiv
Scholars:
314
Papers: 115
Citations: 0
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