In recent years, photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional cancer treatment methods owing to its spatiotemporal controllability and minimal systemic toxicity. However, their clinical application is hindered by poor tumor specificity of conventional photosensitizers (PSs). Herein, we developed a novel near-infrared multifunctional fluorescent probe (CMN), which was expected to enable "diagnosis-treatment-monitoring" integrated PDT. Probe CMN was capable of targeting cell membranes, as well as the capability of tumor specificity and differentiating normal cells from cancer cells through viscosity response, which enabled its use in tumor diagnosis and real-time monitoring of the treatment process. Meanwhile, upon white light irradiation, CMN with the PDT function can generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), effectively inducing tumor cell death. Importantly, real-time visualization of cell membrane damage was achieved using CMN via dynamic fluorescence imaging, providing direct observation for therapeutic effects during PDT. In vivo studies further confirmed that CMN can perform tumor-specific imaging on tumor-bearing mouse models, and its PDT efficacy in mice can be monitored via in situ tumor visualization. In summary, this "diagnosis-treatment-monitoring" integrated photosensitive probe CMN not only enhanced the precision of PDT but also realized the real-time visualization of PDT, possessing significant potential for cancer therapy.
Xu et al. (Fri,) studied this question.