Recent advances in the development of fluorescent probes for γ-glutamyltranspeptidase

gamma-Glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT) plays a significant role in the regulation of cellular redox homeostasis and other physiological or pathophysiological processes. The over-activation of GGT is tightly connected to diseases including the hepatic duct, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer (CRC), acute kidney injury (AKI), and ovarian cancer. GGT has long been identified as a biomarker for hepatocellular-associated cancers, and imaging GGT facilitates precise medicine and intraoperative navigation. Therefore, the GGT fluorescent probes are important in the diagnosis, clinical treatment, and prognosis of GGT-related diseases. The fluorescent probes that can effectively detect and image GGT activity in living cells are a recent research hotspot due to their high selectivity, sensitivity, non-invasive, and real-time capability. In this review, approximately all the GGT fluorescent probes in the past ten years were enumerated, and the characteristics of each probe were summarized to carry out a unified standardized evaluation. At the same time, the research progress of GGT fluorescent probes was reviewed systematically. In logic, we concentrated on the structures, reaction mechanisms, and application of the GGT fluorescent probes. We expect that this review can help the researchers interested in GGT-related biological procedures.