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Light has been utilized for cancer treatment owing to its advantages. Low penetration depth of light restricts its application in cancer treatment. To overcome the drawback, various treatments based on each energy sources have been developed.

Pyroptosis refers to the process of gasdermin-mediated lytic programmed cell death (PCD) characterized by the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Our knowledge of pyroptosis has expanded beyond the cellular level and now includes extracellular responses. In recent years, pyroptosis has attracted considerable attention due to its potential to induce host immunity. For instance, at the 2022 International Medicinal Chemistry of Natural Active Ligand Metal-Based Drugs (MCNALMD) conference, numerous researchers demonstrated an interest in photon-controlled pyroptosis activation ("PhotoPyro"), an emerging pyroptosis-engineered approach for activating systemic immunity via photoirradiation. Given this enthusiasm, we share in this Perspective our views on this emerging area and expound on how and why "PhotoPyro" could trigger antitumor immunity (i.e., turning so-called "cold" tumors "hot"). In doing so, we have tried to highlight cutting-edge breakthroughs in PhotoPyro while suggesting areas for future contributions. By providing insights into the current state of the art and serving as a resource for individuals interested in working in this area, it is hoped that this Perspective will set the stage for PhotoPyro to evolve into a broadly applicable cancer treatment strategy.

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This review summarizes a novel perspective on emerging 1-D nanomaterials for cancer therapy and diagnosis, highlighting the unique shape-dependent properties, recent advancements, and unexplored nanomaterial types and therapeutic applications.

Near‐infrared fluorescence imaging is vital for exploring the biological world. The short emissions (<650 nm) and small Stokes shifts (<30 nm) of current xanthene dyes obstruct their biological applications since a long time. Recently, a potent and universal THQ structural modification technique that shifts emission to the NIR‐I/II range and enables a substantial Stokes shift (>100 nm) for THQ‐modified xanthene dyes is established. Thus, a timely discussion of THQ–xanthene and its applications is extensive. Hence, the advent, working principles, development trajectory, and biological applications of THQ–xanthene dyes, especially in the fields of fluorescence probe‐based sensing and imaging, cancer theranostics, and super‐resolution imaging, are introduced. It is envisioned that the THQ modification tactic is a simple yet exceptional approach to upgrade the performance of conventional xanthene dyes. THQ–xanthene will advance the strides of xanthene‐based potentials in early fluorescent diagnosis of diseases, cancer theranostics, and imaging‐guided surgery.

Fingerprints are one of the distinguishing characteristics of an individual, remaining unaltered throughout one's lifetime. It should be noted that fingerprints are significant and reliable evidence in various cases, such as criminal investigations, medical diagnosis, and public security. Thus, it is necessary to develop efficient techniques for fingerprints detection. Fortunately, the fluorescence emission of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) materials would increase instead of quenching upon excitation when they label fingerprints, which would clearly observe the structure of fingerprints. Herein, we devised a novel AIE-active fluorophore (NI-DB) with electron donor-π bridge-electron acceptor (D-π-A) structure based on the 1,8-naphthalimide. To our delight, after fingerprints fixed by cyanoacrylate glue fuming, NI-DB is capable of detecting and imaging fingerprints via its intrinsic fluorescence emission. And, with the aid of this technique, fingerprints on various object surfaces are successfully developed, suggesting the broad applicability.

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