Significance:
The number of kidney cancers is growing 3–5% each year due to unknown etiologies. Intra- and inter-tumor mediators increase oxidative stress and drive tumor heterogeneity.
Recent Advances:
Technology advancement in state-of-the-art instrumentation and methodologies allows researchers to detect and characterize global landscaping modifications in genes, proteins, and pathophysiology patterns at the single-cell level.
Critical Issues:
We postulate that the sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and their activation within subcellular compartments will change over a timeline of tumor evolvement and contribute to tumor heterogeneity. Therefore, the complexity of intracellular changes within a tumor and ROS-induced tumor heterogeneity coupled to the advancement of detecting these events globally are limited at the level of data collection, organization, and interpretation using software algorithms and bioinformatics.
Future Directions:
Integrative and collaborative research, combining the power of numbers with careful experimental design, protocol development, and data interpretation, will translate cancer biology and therapeutics to a heightened level or leave the abundant raw data as stagnant and underutilized. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 25, 685–701.