Self-luminescent photodynamic therapy and pathogen detection for infectious diseases

The importance of detection and treatments of infectious diseases has been stressed to the world by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As a substitution of an external light source, self-luminescent therapeutics featuring in situ light emission aims to address the lack of tissue penetration in conventional photodynamic therapy (PDT). Luminol-based self-luminescent systems are successfully incorporated in PDT and detection of pathogens in infectious diseases. In these systems, luminol/hydrogen peroxide is served as luminescence source which can be activated by horseradish peroxidase (HRP). As a supplement strategy to the HRP-based bioluminescence, electrochemiluminescence (ECL) provided an electric-driven therapeutic solution and demonstrated potential capabilities of wearable healthcare devices with properly constructed transparent flexible hydrogels. Besides the diagnosis of infection and detection of bacteria, fungi and virus in solution or powder samples have been achieved by ATP-derived self-luminescence as the light source. In this inspirational note, we provide an overview on latest progress in the PDT and microbial detection by self-luminescent systems with an emphasis on the bioluminescence and ECL.