Theranostics in Oncology—Thriving, Now More than Ever

Abstract

Tracing its roots back to the 1940s, theranostics in nuclear oncology has proved successful mainly due to the beneficial effects of image-guided therapeutic concepts for patients afflicted with a variety of different cancers. The majority of these treatments are not only characterized by substantial prolongation of progression-free and overall survival, but are also generally safe, rendering theranostic agents as an attractive treatment option in various clinical scenarios in oncology. In this Special Issue Novel Theranostic Agents, nine original articles from around the globe provide further evidence on the use of the theranostic concept for neuroendocrine neoplasm (NEN), prostate cancer (PC), meningioma, and neuroblastoma. The investigated diagnostic and therapeutic radiotracers target not only established structures, such as somatostatin receptor, prostate-specific membrane antigen or norepinephrine transporter, but also recently emerging targets such as the C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 4. Moreover, the presented original articles also combine the concept of theranostics with in-depth read-out techniques such as radiomics or novel reconstruction algorithms on pretherapeutic scans, e.g., for outcome prediction. Even 80 years after its initial clinical introduction, theranostics in oncology continues to thrive, now more than ever.

In situ theranostic platform combining highly localized magnetic fluid hyperthermia, magnetic particle imaging, and thermometry in 3D

“…Theranostic platforms have gathered significant interest due to their ability to minimize invasiveness, off-target effects, and to augment real-time reactivity during application [40][41][42]. With high imaging contrast and high sensitivity, the possibility of external control over the therapy's localization, and the dual purpose of SPION with no depth limitations in tissue, integrated MPI-MFH is an optimal candidate for theranostic applications [11,43,44].…”

Bioinspired Hydrogels as Platforms for Life-Science Applications: Challenges and Opportunities

“…Since their design, the properties of hydrogels can be tuned to mimic the mechanical, biochemical, and functional characteristics of the soft tissues. The biomimetic materials are applied for controlled drug delivery [4,6,41,58,59,108,122,126,127,178,179], in regenerative medicine (tissue engineering, modulating tissue environment to promote the tissue repair) [3,4,176,180], biosensors and actuators [4,9,[11][12][13]86,176,[180][181][182], bioprinting [4,[10][11][12], 3D cell culture [4,42,46,79,177], imaging for medical diagnostics and therapy [183][184][185], personal healthcare and hygienic products [16,165], etc. A variety of hydrogels responsive to different external stimuli were reported: temperature [4,9,22,35,53,78,…”

“…Theranostics concept, as a combination of a predictive biomarker with a therapeutic agent, is applied for personalized cancer treatment based on a single platform able to cumulate both diagnostic and therapeutic functionalities using the molecular information from the tumors collected from patients [183,184]. Many efforts were carried out for developing nano-size or molecular-level agents serving for both diagnosis and therapy [189].…”

Immuno-PET for Glioma Imaging: An Update

“…However, challenges related to the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and tumor heterogeneity continue to pose obstacles in the development of effective glioma treatments. In this context, theranostics, an approach that integrates diagnosis and therapy in a unified process, might advance the field [8]. There are two main stages in the field of theranostics: (1) the use of a molecule (radiopharmaceutical) labeled with a radionuclide emitting energy suitable for imaging to identify tumor-associated biomarkers; (2) the administration of the same molecule, or a very similar one, conjugated with radionuclide-emitting particles (beta or alpha) to exert anti-tumoral effects.…”