Responsive Nanomolecular Probes for Evolving Liver Diseases: Technological Revolutions and Challenges

Early diagnosis of liver diseases has long faced serious challenges such as insufficient sensitivity, low specificity and difficulty in revealing molecular lesion information by conventional imaging methods. With the rapid development of nanoscience, nanomolecular probes exhibit tuneable structure, modifiable surface and excellent biocompatibility, and their responsive properties have gradually become an ideal medium for connecting molecular pathological changes and image visualisation. This review reveals that functionalised nanoprobes responsive to disease microenvironment-specific signals (e.g., reactive oxygen species, enzymes, pH, metal ions, etc.) can enable the visualisation and tracking of molecular events in liver diseases, thereby promoting the shift of diagnostic paradigm from traditional morphological assessment to precise identification at the functional and molecular levels. This article not only systematically reviews the latest application progress of responsive nanoprobes in liver disease diagnosis, but also demonstrates their great potential to shift the diagnostic paradigm from macro-anatomy to micro-molecule. At the same time, this article presents an in-depth analysis of the key bottlenecks in the clinical translation process, thereby outlining directions for the rational design of next-generation intelligent nano-diagnostic tools. Collectively, this work offers new insights and strategies to accelerate the early and precise diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases.