Activatable Multimodal Probes for In Vivo Imaging and Theranostics

Multimodal imaging, which harnesses two or more imaging modalities to produce complementary anatomical and molecular information of a living subject, has become as a powerful tool in both basic biomedical research and clinical diagnosis. The progresses in multimodal imaging are paralleled by the advances in multimodal probes, particularly activatable multimodal imaging probes that can generate concurrent switches in different imaging modality signals upon interaction with a molecular target. These probes are extremely promising for in vivo imaging. In this Minireview, we summarize the recent progress in activatable multimodal probes for in vivo imaging and cancer theranostics, focusing on their design principle, signal activation mechanism and biomedical applications. The current challenges and perspectives for future developments of activatable multimodal probes are also briefly discussed. We hope that this Minireview will provide inspiration for the design of other activatable multimodal probes for improving in vivo imaging and theranostics.