NIR-II Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogens for Tumor Phototheranostics.

Yonghong Tan,Ben Zhong Tang,Dong Wang,Peiying Liu,Danxia Li

doi:10.3390/bios12010046

Yonghong Tan, Ben Zhong Tang + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/bios12010046

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Abstract

As an emerging and powerful material, aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens), which could simultaneously provide a precise diagnosis and efficient therapeutics, have exhibited significant superiorities in the field of phototheranostics. Of particular interest is phototheranostics based on AIEgens with the emission in the range of second near-infrared (NIR-II) range (1000–1700 nm), which has promoted the feasibility of their clinical applications by virtue of numerous preponderances benefiting from the extremely long wavelength. In this minireview, we summarize the latest advances in the field of phototheranostics based on NIR-II AIEgens during the past 3 years, including the strategies of constructing NIR-II AIEgens and their applications in different theranostic modalities (FLI-guided PTT, PAI-guided PTT, and multimodal imaging-guided PDT–PTT synergistic therapy); in addition, a brief conclusion of perspectives and challenges in the field of phototheranostics is given at the end.

Highlights

Cancer, one of the deadliest diseases in recent decades, has remained a global health concern due to its growing morbidity rate, developing relapse rate, and low survival rate [1,2,3]
Compared with human serum albumin (HSA)/indocyanine green (ICG) complexes that were applied to NIR-I imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT), BPBBT NPs provided more accurate and sensitive imaging and exhibited a higher photothermal conversion effect and better photostability, which Biosensors 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW dramatically enhanced the efficiency of PTT and prevented from omitting small lesions
Inspired by the inherent superiorities mentioned above, Tang et al put forward a strategy to boost nonradiative decay so as to elevate the photothermal conversion efficiency using reverse thinking of the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) process, aiming to maximize molecular motions in the aggregated state to enhance heat transitions through extending the side chain length or adding twisted groups, among which the studies of Liu et al [52] have unprecedentedly integrated the superiorities of reversed AIE and dark twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) to achieve improved photothermal conversion, which can be described as “adjusting TICT in aggregates for boosting photothermal properties”

Summary

Introduction

One of the deadliest diseases in recent decades, has remained a global health concern due to its growing morbidity rate, developing relapse rate, and low survival rate [1,2,3]. Traditional cancer diagnostic methods, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and computed tomography (CT), exhibit some respective and collective drawbacks such as insufficient sensitivity and specificity, high cost, and cumbersome instrumentation [4,5]. Those conventional therapeutic methods toward cancers (such as surgical removal, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy) commonly cause side effects, systematic toxicity, unavoidable invasion, and high relapse rate [6].

NIR-II FLI-Guided PTT

PAI-Guided PTT Based on NIR-II Fluorophores

Multimodal Imaging-Guided Synergistic Therapy

NIR-II FLI-Guided PDT–PTT Synergistic Therapy

Findings

Conclusions