Cancer theranostics

Theranostics refers to the inseparable combination of disease diagnosis and therapy, with the former critically guiding the selection, application and outcome of the latter. In oncology, theranostics traditionally encompass radiolabelled peptides for in vivo molecular imaging of receptor expression by cancer cells, followed by radionuclide treatment using the same peptides labelled with β-emitting radioisotopes. Here we provide an overview of the basic principles and current clinical practice of theranostic probes and protocols, and we expand the terminology to include locally and systemically applied nanotheranostics and microtheranostics, as well as imaging-guided surgical interventions. Building on solid progress in target identification, probe design and hardware development, as well as on promising recent results achieved in clinical trials, we foresee a bright and broad future for multiscale theranostics, for the treatment of oncological pathologies and beyond.