Visualization of drug delivery processes using AIEgens

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Traditional fluorescent dye-labeled drug delivery systems (DDSs) for cancer therapy face challenges like aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) and limited sensitivity in bioimaging.
• Developing self-reporting DDSs that monitor drug distribution, release, and therapeutic response simultaneously is crucial for effective cancer treatment.
• Existing fluorescent probes often require complex designs for multi-process reporting, hindering the development of advanced theranostic tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in theranostic DDSs utilizing aggregation-induced emission characteristics (AIEgens).
• To highlight the design principles and applications of AIEgen-based DDSs for monitoring drug delivery and therapeutic outcomes.
• To encourage the development of sophisticated theranostic DDSs for enhanced cancer therapy and biomedical research.

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on theranostic DDSs incorporating AIEgens.
• Analysis of design strategies for AIEgen-based probes enabling simultaneous bioimaging and drug delivery.
• Examination of AIEgen properties for monitoring drug distribution, activation, and predicting therapeutic responses.

Main Results:

• AIEgens offer a solution to ACQ, enabling high signal-to-background ratio bioimaging for DDSs.
• AIEgen-based theranostic DDSs facilitate simultaneous monitoring of drug distribution and release kinetics.
• These novel DDSs show promise in predicting therapeutic responses, improving cancer treatment efficacy.

Conclusions:

• AIEgens are powerful tools for developing advanced theranostic DDSs with multiple reporting capabilities.
• AIEgen-based DDSs significantly enhance the sensitivity and functionality of cancer theranostics.
• Further research into AIEgen-based DDSs is expected to drive innovation in personalized cancer therapy.