Innovative strategies of hydrogen peroxide-involving tumor therapeutics

Abstract

Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) with a high level in solid tumor microenvironments has been widely investigated as an important target in the design and application of various novel anticancer strategies. Among these strategies, H₂O₂ can be used as an oxygen supplier to improve the therapeutic effects of hypoxia-limited treatment modes including chemotherapy (CT), radiotherapy (RT), photodynamic therapy (PDT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), and starvation therapy (ST). Moreover, it can participate in Fenton or Fenton-like reactions to produce ˙OH with increased toxicity for chemodynamic therapy (CDT). H₂O₂-involving CDT can also be combined with other anticancer therapies, such as CT, RT, PDT, SDT, photothermal therapy, and ST, to achieve better anticancer effects than the single treatment mode. In this review, various recently reported anticancer treatments involving H₂O₂ were summarized. Future prospects inspired by these excellent studies were also discussed to promote the development of the anticancer field involving H₂O₂.