Table 1 The summary of some of published studies presenting data on LDH as a potential diagnostic, prognostic and predictive marker for cancers

Urinary tract cancers: bladder cancer, Wilms’ tumor

↑ total LDH activity and ↑ LD5 level in urine [23, 54]

↑ LDHi levels in urine [58]

↑ total LDH activity in serum [58, 59]

Breast cancers: triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)

↑ cathodic LDHi [60]

↑ total LDH activity in serum [61]

↑ total LDH activity in serum [62, 63]

Germ cell cancers: testicular cancer, ovarian cancer

↑ LD1 level and ↑ cathodic LDHi levels in serum [21, 23, 58]

↑ total LDH activity in serum [58, 64, 65]

Gastrointestinal tract cancers: colorectal cancer (CRC), gastric cancer (GC), pancreatic cancers (PC), esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)

↑ LD5 level in serum and ↑ LDHA/LDHB ratio [58, 66]

↑ total LDH activity in serum and ↑ cathodic LDHi [66,67,68,69,70]

↑ cathodic LDHi levels and ↑ total LDH activity in serum [58, 69,70,71]

Lung cancers: small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), epidermal growth factor receptor mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer, Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

↑ LD5 level in cancer tissue and ↑ cathodic LDHi in serum, and pleural fluid [20, 58, 72]

↑ total LDH activity in serum and ↑ plasma LDH activity [58, 73, 74],

↑ total LDH activity in serum [73, 75,76,77,78]

Prostate cancer (PC)

↑ total LDH activity in serum [79]

↑ total LDH activity in serum [58]

Brain cancer

↑ total LDH activity in cerebral cyst fluids [80]

Oral cancers: oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)

↑ total LDH activity in serum [81]

↑ LDB expression in tumor tissue [82]

Blood cancers: Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL), non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), Burkitt’s lymphoma, Chronic granulocytic leukemia (CGL)

↑ total LDH activity and ↑ LD3 level in serum [54]

↑ total LDH activity in serum [23, 54, 58]

Ewing’s sarcoma

LDHA expression in tumor tissue [23, 83]

Malignant teratoma

↑ LD1 level in serum [84]