Lactate-Oxidase-Instructed Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy

Lactate oxidase (LOx) has attracted extensive interest in cancer diagnosis and therapy in recent years owing to its specific catalysis on l-lactate; its catalytic process consumes oxygen (O-2) and generates a large amount of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and pyruvate. Given high levels of lactate in tumor tissues and its tight correlation with tumor growth, metastasis, and recurrence, LOx-based biosensors including H2O2-based, O-2-based, pH-sensitive, and electrochemical have been designed for cancer diagnosis, and various LOx-based cancer therapy strategies including lactate-depletion-based metabolic cancer therapy/immunotherapy, hypoxia-activated chemotherapy, H2O2-based chemodynamic therapy, and multimodal synergistic cancer therapy have also been developed. In this review, the lactate-specific catalytic properties of LOx are introduced, and the recent advances on LOx-instructed cancer diagnostic or therapeutic platforms and corresponding biological applications are summarized. Additionally, the challenges and potential of LOx-based nanomedicines are highlighted.

Automated summary

Lactate oxidase (LOx) has been widely studied for its specific catalysis on l-lactate, which is highly correlated with tumor growth, metastasis, and recurrence. LOx-based biosensors and cancer therapy strategies have been developed, including H2O2-based, O-2-based, pH-sensitive, and electrochemical sensors for cancer diagnosis, as well as lactate-depletion-based metabolic cancer therapy/immunotherapy, hypoxia-activated chemotherapy, H2O2-based chemodynamic therapy, and multimodal synergistic cancer therapy. This review summarizes the recent advances and potential of LOx-based platforms in cancer diagnosis and therapy, and highlights the challenges and potential of LOx-based nanomedicines.