New approaches in nuclear medicine theranostics

Nuclear medicine has witnessed an exceptional development in recent years. Mainly following the success of somatostatin-receptor- and especially prostate-specific membrane antigen-targeted radioligands, industry investment in the radiopharmaceutical market has reached unprecedented numbers and an impressive number of further innovative theranostic agents have been and are being developed. Among various targets, fibroblast activation protein has aroused most interest and is currently investigated in numerous clinical trials. Beyond this frontrunner, several other promising novel theranostic agents have already entered the clinical arena. In this brief review, we will focus on 4 approaches that reflect the broad variety of nuclear medicine and are likely to gain (even) increasing importance for future patient care, including radiopharmaceuticals targeting carbonic anhydrase IX, C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 4, estrogen receptors as well as radiolabelled antagonists to somatostatin receptor 2.