Research progress of organic fluorescent probes for lung cancer related biomarker detection and bioimaging application

As one of the major public health problems, cancers seriously threaten the human health. Among them, lung cancer is considered to be one of the most life-threatening malignancies. Therefore, developing early diagnosis technology and timely treatment for lung cancer is urgent. Recent research has witnessed that measuring changes of biomarkers expressed in lung cancer has practical significance. Meanwhile, we note that bioimaging with organic fluorescent probes plays an important role for its high sensitivity, real-time analysis and simplicity of operation. In the past years, kinds of organic fluorescent probes targeting lung cancer related biomarker have been developed. Herein, we summarize the research progress of organic fluorescent probes for the detection of lung cancer related biomarkers in this review, along with their design principle, luminescence mechanism and bioimaging application. Additionally, we put forward some challenges and future prospects from our perspective. [Display omitted] •We delivered a review on recent progress in organic fluorescent probes for lung cancer related biomarker detection and bioimaging application.•We described a comprehensive overview covering the specific recognition unit, the design principle, the luminescence mechanism, the biological application and the further development.•We introduced various design strategies of organic fluorescent probes for lung cancer related biomarker detection in this review, providing the guidance to synthesize more organic fluorescent probes for early diagnosis of lung cancer.