Biomimetic nanozymes for tumor diagnosis and treatment

As a major global health threat, cancer continues to pose significant challenges for diagnosis and treatment. Nanozymes are nanomaterials that mimic the catalytic functions of natural enzymes while offering high stability and tunable activity, thereby providing a novel perspective for cancer theranostics. This review systematically describes the classification and catalytic properties of nanozymes. It further highlights biomimetic design strategies based on exosomes, leveraging their inherent targeting and penetration capabilities to enhance the delivery efficiency of nanozymes to tumor tissues. In diagnosis, nanozymes enable sensitive detection and multi-modal imaging of tumor biomarkers and cells through catalytic chromogenic reactions and signal amplification. In therapy, nanozymes exert specific therapeutic effects within the tumor microenvironment (TME) via diverse mechanisms such as catalytic therapy, cascade reactions, starvation therapy, radiosensitization, gas therapy, and immunomodulation. Despite current challenges including biosafety, limited targeting specificity, restricted catalytic diversity, and barriers to clinical translation, further optimization of biomimetic designs and promotion of clinical translation may support the development of safer and more efficient nanozyme-based strategies for cancer diagnosis and treatment.