Nanoparticle facilitated delivery of peroxides for effective cancer treatments.

Through the utilization of hydrogen peroxide (HO) in cancer cells, nanoparticle-facilitated catalytic generation of therapeutic molecules such as O and hydroxyl radicals enabled enhanced anticancer efficacy of O or reactive oxygen species-dependent therapies. However, the intracellular HO was inadequate to obtain satisfactory therapeutic outcomes. Although several reagents such as glucose oxidase and cisplatin could promote HO levels by O conversion, HO-mediated therapeutic efficacy was still hindered in the hypoxic tumor microenvironment. Fortunately, exogenous delivery of HO or other peroxides to tumor sites was able to break the limitation of intracellular O and HO levels and enhance anti-tumor effects. In this review, we summarize the recent progress in constructing a peroxide delivery system for cancer treatments and discuss their challenges and potential applications.