Recent advances on modulation of H2O2 in tumor microenvironment for enhanced cancer therapeutic efficacy

Due to the rapid proliferation of tumors, the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration of tumor cells is higher than that of normal cells, which can be used as an effective target for tumor therapy to differentiate normal tissues and produce differential therapeutic effects. By modulating the generation or decomposition of H2O2 in the tumor microenvironment, target molecules with more killing effects can be produced, to enhance the efficiency of tumor treatment. However, intracellular H2O2 is not sufficient to obtain satisfactory therapeutic results. In this review, we will focus on how to modulate H2O2-related strategies from two aspects, firstly by direct delivery of exogenous factors, and secondly by amplifying endogenous genes, which show that H2O2 regulation-based anticancer strategies are producing increasingly successful results. Finally, we discuss the obstacles that need to be solved and the bright future in the process of H2O2 modulation.