Lycopene as a guardian of redox signalling.

It has been suggested that lycopene, the major carotenoid found in tomato, exhibits health-beneficial effects by virtue of its antioxidant activity. However, recent literature suggests that lycopene can actually "perform" roles independent of such capacity and involving a direct modulation of redox signalling. Reactive oxygen species are known to act as second messengers in the modulation of cellular signalling leading to gene expression changes and pharmacological responses. Lycopene may control redox-sensitive molecular targets, affecting enzyme activities and expressions and modulating the activation of MAPKs and transcription factors, such as NF-κB and AP-1, Nrf2.