Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a progressive,
age-dependent, and unmet chronic inflammatory disease of the peripheral
airways, leading to difficulty in exhalation. Several biomarkers have
been tested in general towards the resolution for a long time, but
no apparent success was achieved. Ongoing therapies of COPD have only
symptomatic relief but no cure. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are
highly reactive species which include oxygen radicals and nonradical
derivatives, and are the prominent players in COPD. They are produced
as natural byproducts of cellular metabolism, but their levels can
vary due to exposure to indoor air pollution, occupational pollution,
and environmental pollutants such as cigarette smoke. In COPD, the
lungs are continuously exposed to high levels of ROS thus leading
to oxidative stress. ROS can cause damage to cells, proteins, lipids,
and DNA which further contributes to the chronic inflammation in COPD
and exacerbates the disease condition. Excessive ROS production can
overwhelm cellular antioxidant systems and act as signaling molecules
that regulate cellular processes, including antioxidant defense mechanisms
involving glutathione and sirtuins which further leads to cellular
apoptosis, cellular senescence, inflammation, and sarcopenia. In this
review paper, we focused on COPD from different perspectives including
potential markers and different cellular processes such as apoptosis,
cellular senescence, inflammation, sirtuins, and sarcopenia, and tried
to connect the dots between them so that novel therapeutic strategies
to evaluate and target the possible underlying mechanisms in COPD
could be explored.