Bone target radiotracers for palliative therapy of bone metastases

The skeleton is one of the most common organs affected by metastatic cancer, and bone metastases often cause severe pain, which significantly affects quality of life. Internal radiotherapy using specifically localized bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals has proven to be an effective alternative and shows fewer side effects than those associated with other forms of treatment. In this review article, we highlight not only radiopharmaceuticals, which have been approved for the palliation of bone metastases but also boneseeking radiolabeled compounds under investigation in basic research. Specifically, we review the efficacy and prospects of phosphorus- 32, strontium-89 chloride, samarium-153-EDTMP, rhenium-186/188-HEDP, rhenium-186/188-complex conjugated bisphosphonate compounds, yttrium-90-DOTA conjugated bisphosphonate, rhenium-186/188-DMSA, radium-223 chloride, thorium-227-EDTMP, thorium-227-DOTMP, and lead/bismuth-212-DOTMP.