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CFP - Special Issue

Molecular imaging and radiotherapy: theranostics for personalized patient management

Guest editor:

Irina Velikyan, Ph.D., Assoc. prof.
Unit of Biomedical Radiation Sciences,
Department of Radiology, Oncology and Radiation Science
Uppsala University
S-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden
Tel: +46 (0)70 4834137
Fax: +46 (0)18 4715305
Email:

Nuclear medicine is an expanding field for the diagnostics and therapy on a molecular level. Current nuclear medicine diagnostic techniques include non-invasive Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) utilizing positron and gamma emitting radionuclides, respectively, for the generation of the signal. Radiotherapy both externally and internally can be directed by the diagnostic PET and SPECT, and diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy have currently merged into theranostics resulting in more personalized medicine. For example, the individualized diagnosis is becoming a standard in the selection of patients for peptide receptor radionuclide therapy wherein the pre-therapeutic imaging and the radiotherapy are conducted with the same vector molecule by exchanging the imaging and therapeutic radionuclides. The high value of imaging diagnostics for the assistance to cancer therapy in terms of early detection, staging, therapy selection and planning as well as follow-up is recognized.
Development of molecular imaging and radiotherapeutical agents is a complex process including identification of the biological target, respective lead compound, synthesis of the radioactive agent, its chemical characterization, pre-clinical, and clinical evaluation. Nevertheless, the number of new agents for targeted imaging of specific protein expression products (receptors, enzymes, and antigens), pre-targeted imaging using small effector or hapten molecules as well as non-targeted imaging of pulmonary and myocardial perfusion and ventilation is increasing continuously. Imaging of inflammation, infection as well as general downstream biologic properties such as proliferation, hypoxia, glycolysis, and angiogenesis has also been investigated.
The introduction of new radiopharmaceuticals and their accessibility are important factors determining the expansion of clinical nuclear medicine for early disease detection and personalized medicine with higher therapeutic efficiency. Furthermore, the availability of the technology for GMP compliant automated tracer production can facilitate the introduction of new radiopharmaceuticals due to the ability to conduct standardized and harmonized multi-center studies for regulatory approval.
We have therefore taken the initiative to publish a special issue within the new journal “Theranostics” on this topic, in which researchers are invited to share their experience, expertise, ideas and results on:

Development of new diagnostic and therapeutic radioactive agents in the context of theranostics, including chemistry, pre-clinical and clinical validation;
Clinical applications of the combination of diagnostic and therapeutic radioactive agents providing theranostic approach;
Other topics within the scope of this special issue.

Manuscripts for the special issue can be sent directly to the guest editor(s) by email with the subject "Nuclear Medicine Special Issue", or submitted online at http://www.thno.org/ms/submit (mark "Nuclear Medicine Special Issue" in the "Suggested reviewers" field to identify the paper).
Detailed formatting instructions, in particular, the formatting of references, can be found in http://www.thno.org/ms/author.

All inquiries should be sent to the guest editor(s) at the above email address.