Activatable fluorescent probes for real-time imaging-guided tumor therapy

Surgery and drug therapy are the two principal options for cancer treatment. However, their clinical ben-efits are hindered by the difficulty of accurate location of the tumors and timely monitoring of the treat-ment efficacy of drugs, respectively. Rapid development of imaging techniques provides promising tools to address these challenges. Compared with conventional imaging techniques such as magnetic reso-nance imaging and computed tomography etc., fluorescence imaging exhibits high spatial resolution, real-time imaging capability, and relatively low costs devices. The advancements in fluorescent probes further accelerate the implementation of fluorescence imaging in tumor diagnosis and treatment moni-toring. In particular, the emergence of site-specifically activatable fluorescent probes fits the demands of tumor delineation and real-time feedback of the treatment efficacy. A variety of small molecule probes or nanoparticle-based probes have been developed and explored for the above-mentioned applications. This review will discuss recent advances in fluorescent probes with a special focus on activatable nanoprobes and highlight the potential implementation of activatable nanoprobes in fluorescence imaging-guided surgery as well as imaging-guided drug therapy.(c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.