RESUMO
Optical molecular imaging is more and more widely used in the field of biomedical sciences due to its advantageous properties such as non-invasive, real-time and high resolution. As a kind of important optical molecular imaging probe,the near-infrared fluorescent(NIRF)dyes exhibit less tissue absorption and strong tissue penetration,and has been gradually applied to the early diagnosis of tumors. Researchers have developed a number of NIRF dyes with high potential for clinical application by conjugating tumor-targeting ligands,nano-modifications and multimodal NIRF imaging, and have significantly improved the specificity and sensitivity of these NIRF dyes in tumor diagnosis. In this paper we provide a review on the application of NIRF dyes in tumor diagnosis.