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CFP - Special Issue

Protease Activity: Meeting Its Theranostic Potential

Guest editors:

Seulki Lee, Ph.D.
Group Leader, Theranostic Nanomedicine Section
Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine (LOMIN)
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), NIH
9 Memorial Dr 1W109
Bethesda, MD 20892
Tel: 301-402-3427, Fax: 301-480-5444
Email:

Kwangmeyung Kim, Ph.D.
Lab Chief, Biomedical Research Center
Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)
Seongbukgu, Seoul 136-791, Korea
Email:

Proteases, which are known as proteolytic enzymes, are important signaling proteins that play crucial roles in a number of pathological processes, such as cancer, inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases and neurological disorders. It is not surprising that proteases have been actively investigated as potential therapeutic and imaging targets. Various novel protease inhibitors and protease-targeted prodrugs are under active clinical investigations and some of which are expected to put in the market in the next few years. Since certain types of proteases can be used as biomarkers and/or prognostic markers, different types of diagnostics have been widely developed. In addition, recent technological developments in molecular imaging have allowed detecting and imaging protease activities in living organisms using different imaging modalities. In this special issue of Theranostics, we would like to share ideas and opinions on why protease-targeted imaging and therapy is attractive in the drug development and diagnosis field through up-to-date review and research articles. We invite review/research/perspective articles related to:

Identification of the substrates, inhibitors and binders of different proteases;
Protease-targeted imaging or detection methods using specific imaging modalities (optical, PET/SPECT or MRI);
Newly developed protease-targeted imaging or diagnostic systems for cellular or in vivo applications;
Novel protease-targeted therapeutics.

Manuscripts for the special issue can be sent directly to the guest editor(s) by email with the subject "Protease Special Issue", or submitted online at http://www.thno.org/ms/submit (mark "Protease 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.