Cysteine (Cys), one of three endogenous biothiols, is involved in a variety of biological processes, such as protein and peptide biosynthesis, enzyme active sites and cofactors, and redox balance regulations. An imbalance in the measured levels of Cys, against normative levels of Cys, is implicated in a series of human diseases, so that Cys has been recognized as one of the most important biomarkers in early diagnosis and treatment as well as the monitoring of the stage of diseases. Rapid and accurate quantification of Cys within complex biological systems enables in the advance of future personalized diagnostics and therapies. In the past few years, many Cys-responsive luminescence probes have been developed for the quantitative detection of Cys; studies where the full prepared probe is validifed by investigations in vitro and in vivo. In this review, advances in the development of Cys-responsive luminescence probes, including molecular probes and nanoprobes, are included and discussed in sections corresponding to their response mechanisms. The structure of molecular probes are included; performances of various bioanalytical probes in Cys detection are compared in aspects of excitation/emission wavelengths, detection limits and dynamic ranges, as well as experimental conditions for practical applications. Current challenges and future research directions for designing and preparing new Cys-selective probes are proposed.

半胱氨酸（Cys）是三种内源性生物硫醇之一，参与多种生物过程，例如蛋白质和肽的生物合成，酶活性位点和辅助因子以及氧化还原平衡调节。Cys的测量水平相对于Cys的标准水平的不平衡与一系列人类疾病有关，因此Cys被认为是早期诊断和治疗以及阶段监测中最重要的生物标志物之一疾病。在复杂的生物系统中对Cys进行快速准确的定量分析可以促进未来个性化诊断和治疗的发展。在过去的几年中，已经开发了许多Cys反应发光探针来定量检测Cys。通过调查验证完整准备好的探针的研究体外和体内。在这篇综述中，包括分子探针和纳米探针在内的Cys响应发光探针的开发进展也包括在内，并在与它们的响应机制相对应的部分中进行了讨论。包括分子探针的结构；从激发/发射波长，检测限和动态范围以及实际应用的实验条件等方面比较了各种生物分析探针在Cys检测中的性能。提出了设计和制备新的Cys选择性探针的当前挑战和未来的研究方向。