Aggregation‐Induced Emission‐Based Platforms for the Treatment of Bacteria, Fungi, and Viruses

Abstract

The prevention and control of pathogenic bacteria, fungi, and viruses is a herculean task for all the countries since they greatly threaten global public health. Rapid detection and effective elimination of these pathogens is crucial for the treatment of related diseases. It is urgently demanded to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to combat bacteria, fungi, and viruses‐induced infections. The emergence of aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) luminogens (AIEgens) is a revolutionary breakthrough for the treatment of many diseases, including pathogenic infections. In this review, the main focus is on the applications of AIEgens for theranostic treatment of pathogenic bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Due to the AIE characteristic, AIEgens are promising fluorescent probes for the detection of bacteria, fungi, and viruses with excellent sensitivity and photostability. Moreover, AIEgen‐based theranostic platforms can be fabricated by introducing bactericidal moieties or designing AIE photosensitizers and AIE photothermal agents. The current strategies and ongoing developments of AIEgens for the treatment of pathogenic bacteria, fungi, and viruses will be discussed in detail.

Organic photosensitizers for antimicrobial phototherapy

“…4d). 14 Liu's strategy provides a new approach for selective and sensitive detection and eradication of intracellular bacterial infections.…”

“…Currently, AIEgens have been widely utilized as phototheranostic probes for the detection and killing of bacteria, viruses, and fungi with excellent performance. 14 Moreover, these AIEgen-based theranostic platforms are compatible with other therapeutic strategies, and they may play a more significant role in the prevention and cure of pathogenic microbial infected diseases in the future.…”

“…Fungi are single-celled or very complex multicellular organisms, in which fungal infections usually cause mild symptoms. 14 In this tutorial review, we highlight phototherapy as an innovative, cost-effective, and nonantibiotic therapy in this area with a focus on the treatment of bacterial, viral, and fungal infections.…”

Aggregation-Induced Emission-Active Nanostructures: Beyond Biomedical Applications

“…AIEgens and AIE nanomaterials have been reported for the detection, imaging, and killing of pathogens from fungi to viruses and bacteria. , Particularly, the killing of pathogens often involves photodynamic generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). For instance, Gao and An et al prepared nanoparticles from bovine serum albumin (BSA), AIEgen 42 , and nanographene oxide (NGO) via nanoprecipitation, which are able not only to track bacterial distribution but also to kill bacteria via both photodynamic and photothermal therapy (Figure ).…”

Noncancerous disease-targeting AIEgens

“…Under these circumstances, AIEgens offer overwhelming advantages over traditional fluorescent probes owing to their high photostability, sensitivity, and selectivity in the detection of infections caused by pathogenic microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi and viruses. 33,[61][62][63][64][65] Thus, the rapid detection and quantification of various bacteria are vital in many fields. To achieve this goal, Tang and Wu developed a series of sensor arrays based on tetraphenylethylene (TPE) derivatives.…”