Dear Colleagues,

Nanoparticles are defined as a nanosized material, typically under 100 nm. Over the last two decades, there has been an unabated interest in expanding the role of nanotechnology into medicine. The nanosized formulations are designed to improve the target site accumulation, thus maximizing the drug’s efficacy and minimizing toxicity. For therapy, nanoparticles can act as delivery vehicles carrying drugs to their biological targets. When loaded with the appropriate contrast agent or radionuclides, nanoparticles can serve as optical, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging probes. The continuous research and development effort led to remarkable scientific progress but also highlighted considerable clinical challenges. The cytotoxicity, limited in-vivo efficacy, and immune response to nanoparticles remain major hurdles for clinical translation. The other challenge is the need for appropriate characterization of nanoparticles for clinical use and the issue of scale-up and batch-to-batch variations. The dichotomy between academic research and the clinical translation is further reflected in the number of corresponding publications over the years as shown in Figure 1. Based on this analysis, only ~1% of nanoparticle-based research is translated into clinical therapy studies, and ~0.4% of imaging research is translated into clinical imaging studies. Therefore, we propose this thematic issue to inform and guide the scientific community by inviting experts in the field to provide their critical findings, systematic, perspective, and education reviews to reduce this gap and overcome major challenges faced in the clinical translation of nanoparticle-based therapy and imaging.

Research and clinical publications in the field of nanotheranostics.

This thematic issue will cover the following:

• Targeted nanotheranostics for imaging and drug delivery applications
• Novel nanoplatforms for imaging and or radiotheranostics applications
• Nanosized multimodal imaging probes and superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles
• Novel approaches to loading, controlled release, chelation, and conjugation strategy of theranostic radionuclides and conjugates
• Preclinical evaluation of novel nanoparticles
• Novel biochemical mechanism for nanoparticle internalization (disease-specific or case study)
• Radiomics-based patient stratification strategies
• Translating preclinical efficacy and toxicology to clinical outcome
• Regulatory challenges and approach towards clinical translation

Dr. Fedor Zhuravlev
Dr. Mukesh K. Pandey
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• nanoparticles
• imaging
• radiotherapy
• nanotheranostics