Multifunctional nanoprobes for the cancer cells pathophysiological processes sensing and imaging

Medical imaging technologies have become an important tool for studying pathophysiological processes of cancer, providing high-resolution and high-contrast images for precision diagnostics. New imaging technology advancements have revolutionized our strategy to comprehend more pathophysiological processes and details of cancer occurrence, invasion, drug resistance, and metastasis. Nanomaterials with high-quality magnetic, optical, acoustic, or nuclear properties are now not only ancillary contrast entities but also primary image signal sources. This paper presents a summary of the existing creative multifunctional nanoprobes for the biomarkers activity or micro-environment change detection and imaging application of cancer cells in various disease stages. The nanoprobes discussed in this review have been evaluated both in vitro as well as in vivo. Cancer cell selective imaging is accomplished via diverse cellular metabolism pathways targeting. Moreover, the introduction of novel techniques on the basis of previously reported biomarkers or activatable characteristic will open the door to tracking unknown biological processes of cancer cells. Future generations of multifunctional nanoprobes are expected to be clinically translated to aid in the evaluation of cancer therapies and to advance the field of efficient and innovative drugs research in tumor biomarkers, tumor heterogeneity, and drug resistance. This review is anticipated to spark novel and pioneering multifunctional nanoprobes ideas for the pathophysiological processes imaging in cancer cells.