REVIEW  PRECLINICAL IMAGING 

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2017 March;61(1):76-94

DOI: 10.23736/S1824-4785.16.02944-7

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Advances in molecular preclinical therapy mediated by imaging

Adelaide GRECO ^{1, 2, 3}, Sandra ALBANESE ^{1, 2}, Luigi AULETTA ⁴, Flavia DE CARLO ⁵, Marco SALVATORE ⁴, Candace M. HOWARD ⁶, Pier P. CLAUDIO ^{5, 7} ✉

¹ Department of Advanced Biomedical Science, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy; ² Ceinge, Advanced Biotechnology, Scarl, Naples, Italy; ³ Institute of BioStructures and BioImaging, CNR, Naples, Italy; ⁴ IRCCS SDN, Naples, Italy; ⁵ Department of BioMolecular Sciences, National Center for Natural Products Research, University of Mississippi, Jackson, MS, USA; ⁶ Department of Radiology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA; ⁷ Department of Radiation Oncology, Medical Center Cancer Institute, Jackson, MS, USA

Several advances have been made toward understanding the biology of cancer and most of them are due to robust genetic studies that led to the scientific recognition that although many patients have the same type of cancer their tumors may have harbored different molecular alterations. Personalized therapy and the development of advanced techniques of preclinical imaging and new murine models of disease are emerging concepts that are allowing mapping of disease markers in vivo and in some cases also receptor targeted therapy. Aim of this review is to illustrate some emerging models of disease that allow patient tumor implantation in mice for subsequent drug testing and advanced approaches for therapy mediated by preclinical imaging. In particular we discuss targeted therapy mediated by high frequency ultrasound and magnetic resonance, two emerging techniques in molecular preclinical therapy.

KEY WORDS: Molecular imaging - Magnetic resonance imaging - Ultrasonography - Gene therapy - Molecular targeted therapy