Tumours derived from highly metastatic 4T1-luc breast cancer cells, which exhibit high expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), were established in nude mice; these mice were injected with smart MMP-targeting and “always-on” HER2-targeting near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes. Here, ERBB2 is linked to breast carcinoma.