Isotopes Labeled Nanoparticles

Dear Colleagues,

Recently, there has been an increasing amount of interest in nanomaterials for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Radionuclides with specific emission properties can be incorporated into nanoparticles (NPs) and used for radionuclide therapy and radio-imaging. The advantage of NPs is their potential for containing several radioactive atoms within a single carrier. NPs can deliver radionuclides using either passive or active targeting strategy. The passive targeting accumulation of NPs takes place in nonspecific ways through enlarged gap junctions in tumor endothelial cells. This type of targeting, which enables macromolecules to selectively accumulate in the tumor tissue, is called enhanced permeation and retention (EPR). Unfortunately, local drug deposition is unfeasible for larger tumors with poor vascularization and for floating cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia. Target specificity is then achieved through hybrid NPs produced by conjugating NPs with tumor-specific biomolecules, including mAbs, aptamers, peptides, or various receptor-specific substrates. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the use of radionuclide-labeled nanoparticles to directly deliver corpuscular radiation to the tumor, such as in brachytherapy; thus, such technology using nanoparticles is called nanobrachytherapy. In this perspective, radioactive nanoparticles could represent a promising alternative to current brachytherapy methods with outstanding results compared to conventional brachytherapy.

Prof. Dr. Aleksander Bilewicz
Dr. Penelope Bouziotis
Guest Editor

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