Chen Peng

We report a novel trident-like multi-cation photosensitizer (PS) with stabilized membrane camouflage for efficient tumor-targeted photodynamic therapy. Its rational design boosts ROS generation and overcomes PS leakage in biomimetic delivery systems.

Fibre‐based wearables for embroidery, chemosensing, and biofluid's unidirectional draining with good flexibility, tunability, and designability drive technological advance. However, synthetic polymer fibres are non‐degradable, threatening the environment and human health. Herein, we have developed versatile microfibre‐based wearables by combining many advantages in one platform of biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) and melt electrowriting strategy. Diverse potential applications of PLA wearables are achieved by flexibly designing their printing files, components and structures. Three‐dimensional printing files are generated from two‐dimensional images to fabricate ‘embroidery‐like’ patterns. PLA/aggregation‐induced emission fluorogens (AIE) chemosensors exhibit colorimetric and fluorescent colour changes upon exposure to amine vapours. Janus PLA‐cotton textiles with a hydrophobic/hydrophilic structure could facilitate unidirectional draining of sweats which is favourable for the management of temperature and humidity on the surface of skin. The proposed platform can not only broaden the design possibilities in 3D/4D printing but also offer wide potential applications for functional wearables.

The highly contagious tuberculosis is a leading infectious killer, which urgently requires effective diagnosis and treatment methods. To address these issues, three lipophilic aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) photosensitizers (TTMN, TTTMN, and MeOTTMN) are selected to evaluate their labeling and antimicrobial properties in vitro and in vivo. These three lipophilic AIEgens preserve low cytotoxicity and achieve real‐time and non‐invasive visualization of the process of mycobacteria infection in vitro and in vivo. More importantly, these AIEgens can be triggered by white light to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), which is a highly efficient antibacterial reagent. Among these AIEgens, the TTMN photosensitizer has an outstanding antibacterial efficacy over the clinical first‐line drug rifampicin at the same therapeutic concentration. Interestingly, this study also finds that TTMN can increase the expression of pro‐inflammatory cytokines in the early stage of infection after light irradiation, indicating an additional pro‐inflammatory role of TTMN. This work provides some feasibility basis for developing AIEgens‐based agents for effectively destroying mycobacterium.

Bacterial keratitis (BK) is an acute infection of the cornea, accompanied by uneven epithelium boundaries with stromal ulceration, potentially resulting in vision loss. Topical antibiotic is the regular treatment for BK. However, the incidence rate of multidrug-resistant bacteria limits the application of traditional antibiotics. Therefore, a cationic aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) named TTVP is utilized for the treatment of BK. TTVP showed no obvious cytotoxicity in maintaining the normal cell morphology and viability under a limited concentration, and revealed the ability to selectively combine with bacteria in normal ocular environment. After light irradiation, TTVP produced reactive oxygen species (ROS), thus exerting efficient antibacterial ability in vitro. What’s more, in rat models of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infection, the therapeutic intervention of TTVP lessens the degree of corneal opacity and inflammatory infiltration, limiting the spread of inflammation. Besides, TTVP manifested superior antibacterial efficacy than levofloxacin in acute BK, endowing its better vision salvage ability than conventional method. This research demonstrates the efficacy and advantages of TTVP as a photodynamic drug in the treatment of BK and represents its promise in clinical application of ocular infections.

Bacterial endophthalmitis (BE) is an acute eye infection and potentially irreversible blinding ocular disease. The empirical intravitreous injection of antibiotic is the primary treatment once diagnosed as BE. However, the overuse of antibiotic contributes to the drug resistance of pathogens and the retinal toxicity of antibiotic limits its application in clinic. Herein, a cationic aggregation‐induced emission luminogens named with triphenylamine thiophen pyridinium (TTPy) is reported for photodynamic treatment of BE. TTPy can selectively discriminate and kill bacteria efficiently over normal ocular cells. More importantly, TTPy shows excellent antibacterial ability in BE rat models infected by Staphylococcus aureus. Meanwhile, the bacterial killing behavior triggered by TTPy induces innate immune response at an early stage of infection, limiting subsequent robust inflammation and protecting retina from bacterial toxins and inflammation‐induced bystander damage. In addition, TTPy performs better antibacterial ability than commercially used Rose Bengal, suggesting its excellent capability of vision salvage in acute BE. This study exhibits an efficient photodynamic antibacterial treatment to BE, which induces an early intraocular immune response and saves useful vision, endowing TTPy a promising potential for clinical application of ocular infections.

The integration of aggregation‐induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) and inorganic constituents to generate multifunctional nanocomposites has attracted much attention because it couples the bright aggregate‐state fluorescence of AIEgens with the diverse imaging modalities of inorganic constituents. Herein, a facile and universal strategy to prepare metal–phenolic‐network (MPN)‐coated AIE dots in a high encapsulation efficiency is reported. Through precise control on the nucleation of AIEgens and deposition of MPNs in tetrahydrofuran/water mixtures, termed as coacervation, core–shell MPN‐coated AIE dots with bright emission are assembled in a one‐pot fashion. The optical properties of MPN‐coated AIE dots can be readily tuned by varying the incorporated AIEgens. Different metal ions, such as Fe³⁺, Ti⁴⁺, Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, can be introduced to the nanoparticles. The MPN‐coated AIE dots with a red‐emissive AIEgen core are successfully used to perform magnetic resonance/fluorescence dual‐modality imaging in a tumor‐bearing mouse model and blood flow visualization in a zebrafish larva. It is believed that the present study provides a tailor‐made nanoplatform to meet the individual needs of in vivo bioimaging.

The development of high‐performance theranostic platforms is always an intractable challenge in modern medicine research. Herein, new luminescent materials that possess the advantages of high sensitivity, high resolution, and deep tumor‐penetrating imaging as well as multimodal synergistic therapeutic functions may be one of the best potential alternatives for efficient theranostics. In this work, a powerful Au(I)‐containing aggregation‐induce emission luminogen (AIEgen) with integrated multifunctions of bimodal imaging and multimodal combination therapy is developed. This simple small‐molecule system can simultaneously realize high‐contrast fluorescence imaging and computed tomography imaging. Additionally, it can act as an effective thioredoxin reductase inhibitor to exert inherent anticancer effect, and simultaneously work as an ideal radiosensitizer to produce efficient anticancer efficacy through a multimodal synergistic effect. Thus, this study highlights a new design guideline to endow AIE luminogens with extraordinary functions by Au(I) and opens a new avenue for the development of new luminescent theranostic systems.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has attracted much attention as a useful technique for disease therapy, considering its minimum invasiveness, high spatial-temporal control, and specific lesion destruction. However, the limited generation of singlet oxygen (¹O₂) in PDT has restricted the practical biomedical applications of photosensitizers. To overcome this issue, we first developed iron nanoparticles as an Fe nanotemplate to synthesize iron germanium nanoalloy coated iron nanoparticles (Fe@Fe₃Ge₂ NPs), which possess strong near-infrared (NIR) absorption, as a highly stable photosensitizer and to generate ¹O₂ effectively under irradiation by an 808 nm laser for NIR-PDT via the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. Taking advantage of the strong magnetic properties of the Fe nanotemplates and the effective generation of ¹O₂ by Fe₃Ge₂ nanoshells, Fe@Fe₃Ge₂ NPs could be applicable for efficient targeted magnetic resonance imaging-guided NIR-PDT in an α_vβ₃-positive U87MG glioblastoma model. This work marks an important step forward in developing a novel nanoparticulated theranostic agent for accurate clinical cancer theranostics in the future.