Nuclear medicine-based diagnosis and therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative diseases: Clinical progress

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are chronic neurological diseases characterized by progressive neuronal loss and pathological protein deposition in specific brain regions. With the deepening of population aging, these diseases have become one of the most serious public health challenges. Due to the high heterogeneity of these disorders and the complex pathogenesis, it brings great challenges to clinical precision diagnosis and treatment. In this context, nuclear medicine molecular imaging technology represented by positron emission tomography (PET) and emerging radioactive ligand therapy (RLT) has achieved breakthrough development. This kind of technology can realize the visual detection of specific molecular pathological proteins ( β-amyloid (Aβ), Tau, α-synuclein) in vivo, and provide key information support for the accurate classification of pathological subtypes of NDs. This paper systematically reviews the research results of the whole process from the discovery of diagnostic biomarkers to the therapeutic intervention of nuclear medicine. At the same time, it discusses emerging frontiers, including AI‑assisted analysis and novel probe development. Despite substantial theoretical potential, these approaches face major translational barriers such as standardization and validation gaps. This review thus aims to provide an integrated perspective to facilitate ND translational breakthroughs.