Nuclear imaging in cancer theranostics

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Nuclear Medicine
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Theranostics integrates diagnostic testing with therapeutic interventions.
• This approach identifies patients likely to benefit from, or experience adverse effects from, specific drugs.
• The drug development process can be accelerated by enriching patient populations in clinical trials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the role of non-invasive nuclear imaging in cancer theranostics.
• To highlight examples of nuclear imaging procedures coupled with specific therapies.
• To focus on imaging methods for identifying patients who will benefit from targeted therapy or fail standard treatment.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on theranostics and nuclear imaging in oncology.
• Identification of prominent examples of theranostic nuclear imaging procedures.
• Analysis of the contribution of non-invasive imaging to patient selection for cancer therapies.

Main Results:

• Theranostics is a promising avenue adopted by many drug companies for drug development.
• Nuclear medicine provides historical and practical foundations for theranostic strategies.
• Non-invasive nuclear imaging offers significant contributions to cancer theranostics.

Conclusions:

• The adoption of theranostic concepts by regulatory authorities signifies progress in molecularly targeted drug development.
• Oncology presents strong clinical evidence for the necessity of linking diagnostics with therapeutics.
• Nuclear imaging procedures are crucial for identifying patient eligibility for targeted therapies and predicting treatment response.