{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T05:04:31Z","timestamp":1789707871340,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":139,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,12]],"date-time":"2026-09-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789171200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Hunan Natural Science Foundation, grant number","award":["2024JJ8163"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024JJ8163"]}]},{"name":"State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of traditional Chi-nese medicine monitoring statistics research subject","award":["2025JCTJA60"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025JCTJA60"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Photodynamic therapy (PDT) offers spatially confined, repeatable and mechanistically orthogonal tumor control, yet its broader clinical impact remains limited by inadequate light access, oxygen dependence and incomplete biological selectivity. Boron\u2013dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dyes provide an unusually programmable platform for addressing these constraints. Although native BODIPYs are fluorescence-biased and inefficient triplet photosensitizers, their absorption, intersystem crossing, reactive oxygen species identity, aggregation, targeting and activation can be independently engineered through modular scaffold modification. In this Review, we present BODIPY as a programmable photochemical chassis for precision-oriented PDT. We first define the structure\u2013photophysics\u2013function relationships that convert BODIPY fluorophores into red- or near-infrared-responsive, type I- or type II-tunable and formulation-compatible photosensitizers. We then introduce a tumor-context-adaptive framework that integrates light-delivery routes, oxygen economy, multiscale targeting, organelle vulnerability and microenvironment-locked activation. Finally, we examine how BODIPY PDT can extend beyond direct cytotoxicity to vascular remodeling, immunogenic cell death, the potential to support in situ vaccination and rational combination therapy, while proposing translational go\/no-go criteria for clinically credible candidates. We argue that progress will depend less on molecular complexity than on indication-first co-design of BODIPY chemistry, tumor biology and deployable light hardware.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules31183223","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T09:34:01Z","timestamp":1789378441000},"page":"3223","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Reprogramming Photodynamic Therapy with BODIPY Photosensitizers: From Local Phototoxicity Toward Precision Photodynamic Oncology"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"31","author":[{"given":"Lina","family":"Deng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Hunan Engineering and Technology Research Center for Health Products and Life Science, School of Pharmacy, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-3915-9523","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yimiao","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xiangyin Campus, Xiangxing College, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Yueyang 414615, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-0289-2885","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zuowei","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hunan Engineering and Technology Research Center for Health Products and Life Science, School of Pharmacy, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"},{"name":"Homologous Innovation Laboratory of Medicine and Food, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"e70090","article-title":"Global cancer statistics 2024: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 34 cancers in 186 countries","volume":"76","author":"Sung","year":"2026","journal-title":"CA Cancer J. 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