18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) functionalized gold nanoparticles (GNPs) for plasmonic photothermal ablation of cancer. A review

The meeting and merging between innovative nanotechnological systems, such as nanoparticles, and the persistent need to outperform diagnostic-therapeutic approaches to fighting cancer are revolutionizing the medical research scenario, leading us into the world of nanomedicine. Photothermal therapy (PTT) is a non-invasive thermo-ablative treatment in which cellular hyperthermia is generated through the interaction of near-infrared light with light-to-heat converter entities, such as gold nanoparticles (GNPs). GNPs have great potential to improve recovery time, cure complexity, and time spent on the treatment of specific types of cancer. The development of gold nanostructures for photothermal efficacy and target selectivity ensures effective and deep tissue-penetrating PTT with fewer worries about adverse effects from nonspecific distributions. Regardless of the thriving research recorded in the last decade regarding the multiple biomedical applications of nanoparticles and, in particular, their conjugation with drugs, few works have been completed regarding the possibility of combining GNPs with the cancer-targeted pharmaceutical fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). This review aims to provide an actual scenario on the application of functionalized GNP-mediated PTT for cancer ablation purposes, regarding the opportunity given by the 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) functionalization

Prognostic and theranostic applications of positron emission tomography for a personalized approach to metastatic castration‐resistant prostate cancer

Metastatic castration‐resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) represents a condition of pro-gressive disease in spite of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), with a broad spectrum of mani-festations ranging from no symptoms to severe debilitation due to bone or visceral metastatization. The management of mCRPC has been profoundly modified by introducing novel therapeutic tools such as antiandrogen drugs (i.e., abiraterone acetate and enzalutamide), immunotherapy through sipuleucel‐T, and targeted alpha therapy (TAT). This variety of approaches calls for unmet need of biomarkers suitable for patients’ pre‐treatment selection and prognostic stratification. In this sce-nario, imaging with positron emission computed tomography (PET/CT) presents great and still unexplored potential to detect specific molecular and metabolic signatures, some of whom, such as the prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), can also be exploited as therapeutic targets, thus combining diagnosis and therapy in the so‐called “theranostic” approach. In this review, we per-formed a web‐based and desktop literature research to investigate the prognostic and theranostic potential of several PET imaging probes, such as18F‐FDG,18F‐choline and68Ga‐PSMA‐11, also covering the emerging tracers still in a pre‐clinical phase (e.g., PARP‐inhibitors’ analogs and the radioligands binding to gastrin releasing peptide receptors/GRPR), highlighting their potential for defining personalized care pathways in mCRPC

89Zr-PET imaging in humans: a systematic review

Purpose: The remarkable amount of preclinical data achieved on 89Zr-PET imaging led to a significant clinical translation, concerning mainly immuno-PET applications. The aim of this systematic review is to provide a complete overview on clinical applications of 89Zr-PET imaging, using a systematic approach to identify and collect published studies performed in humans, sorted by field of application and specific disease subsections. Methods: A systematic literature search of articles suiting the inclusion criteria was conducted on Pubmed, Scopus, Central, and Web Of Science databases, including papers published from January 1967 to November 2020. Eligible studies had to be performed on humans through PET imaging with 89Zr-labeled compounds. The methodological quality was assessed through the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic accuracy Studies-2 tool. Results: A total of 821 articles were screened. 74 studies performed on humans were assessed for eligibility with the exclusion of further 18, thus 56 articles were ultimately selected for the qualitative analysis. Conclusions: 89Zr has shown to be a powerful PET-imaging tool, in particular for radiolabeling antibodies in order to study antigen expression, biodistribution, anticancer treatment planning and follow-up. Other than oncologic applications, 89Zr-radiolabeled antibodies have been proposed for use in inflammatory and autoimmune disorders with interesting results. 89Zr-labeled nanoparticles represent groundbreaking radiopharmaceuticals with potential huge fields of application. To evaluate the clinical usefulness of 89Zr PET-imaging in different conditions and in real-world settings, and to widen its use in clinical practice, further translation of preclinical to clinical data is needed

99mTc-HMPAO brain SPECT in the monitoring of cerebral vasculitis therapy

tObjective: The central nervous system (CNS) may be involved in a variety of inflammatory diseases of theblood vessels, generally known as vasculitis. The clinical diagnosis of such involvement in early stagesis difficult, since a mild cognitive impairment can be the only symptom. It was hypothesized that brain-perfusion SPECT would be able to reveal CNS involvement and to monitor the course of the disease. Thepurpose of this study was assess if and when an improvement of cerebral perfusion can be registered bySPECT during the follow-up of these diseases.Material and methods: Eighteen patients affected by Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), 22 by undif-ferentiated vasculitis (UV), 5 by Behcet’s disease (BD) and 5 by primary Sjogren’s Syndrome (pSS) wereenrolled in this prospective study. A99mTc-HMPAO brain perfusion SPECT was performed before the treat-ment and was repeated during the follow-up at different time intervals. Image analysis was performedon 10 cerebral areas using a specific software.Results: In the SLE patients, no significant improvement of brain perfusion was found. On the contrary,in the UV the cerebral uptake of the tracer significantly improved from the twenty-fourth month (18/22patients). Patients with BD showed an improvement of scintigraphic findings (5/5 patients), while asimilar result was obtained only in 2 of the patients with pSS.Conclusions: In conclusion, brain SPECT seems to be able to monitor the disease in UV, indicating themoment when an improvement of the cerebral perfusion is achieved. In SLE patients this scintigraphictechnique did not show a significant improvement in CNS perfusion

99mTc-labeled Keratin-coated gold nanoparticles for selective anticancer photothermal therapy

We report and discuss the synthesis and characterization of a new generation of radiolabeled 99mTc keratin gold nanoparticles (99mTc-Ker-AuNPs) to realize a new generation of biocompatible nanotherapeutics for the treatment of cancerous tissues via light assisted thermal therapy. The presence of 99mTc easily allows revealing the Ker-AuNPs accumulation in tissues, thus enabling a selective photothermal ablation. The 99mTc-Ker-AuNPs is investigated through instant thin-layer chromatography (ITLC), UV-Vis spectroscopy, and a high resolution thermographic optical setup, revealing a successful conjugation between99mTc-Ker and Ker-AuNPs along with excellent photothermal properties