AIE-based cancer theranostics

Abstract Theranostics with simultaneous diagnosis and therapy functions are potential to greatly improve the therapeutic efficacy and reduce side effects. Fluorescence imaging has significant advantages in terms of high sensitivity, easy operation, and good biocompatibility. However, traditional fluorophores usually suffer from serious self-quenching after local accumulation at a high concentration. In contrary, the aggregation-induced emission fluorogens (AIEgens) are ideal for construction of cancer theranostics with advantages of high emission efficiency in the aggregate state. Therefore, the combination of AIEgens and different therapy modules provides a great opportunity for image-guided precise cancer treatment, which can efficiently ablate cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we will discuss the most recent progress of AIE-based cancer theranostics with representative examples.