Abstract
Reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated cancer therapy has emerged as a promising strategy for inducing oxidative stress and cancer cell death. Among available nanomaterials, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are particularly attractive because of their magnetic responsiveness, tunable physicochemical properties, and capacity to generate or amplify intracellular ROS within the tumor microenvironment. MNPs can disrupt cellular redox homeostasis through Fenton and Fenton-like reactions, chemodynamic therapy, ferroptosis, and mitochondrial dysfunction, thereby activating multiple cancer cell death pathways. Recent advances in nanomaterial engineering have further improved their therapeutic potential through surface functionalization, compositional optimization, targeted delivery, and stimuli-responsive design. ROS-generating magnetic nanoplatforms have also been integrated with chemotherapy, magnetic hyperthermia, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, and immunotherapy to achieve synergistic antitumor effects. However, important challenges remain, including limited ROS-generation efficiency, tumor heterogeneity, biosafety concerns, and barriers to clinical translation. This review summarizes the fundamental principles and mechanisms of ROS-mediated cancer therapy using MNPs, discusses major engineering and combination-therapy strategies, and evaluates current limitations and future perspectives. Particular emphasis is placed on relationships between nanoparticle composition, structure, catalytic behavior, tumor responsiveness, and therapeutic outcomes and clinical translation strategies. These insights may support the rational design of next-generation magnetic nanoplatforms for more effective and precise cancer treatment.