Ultrasmall Nanomaterials for Multimodal Cancer Imaging

Ultrasmall nanomaterials (NMs) offer excellent prospects for the development of new non-invasive strategies of early diagnosis and efficient monitoring of therapeutic treatments. Provided with special functionalities, NMs allow the simultaneous application of different molecular imaging methods. In the field of cancer medicine, the combination of different imaging techniques such as nuclear (PET: positron emission tomography and SPECT: single-photon emission computed tomography) and near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging for tracking down tumors and metastases is particularly attractive.
This lecture will focus on the development and application of very small radiolabeled NMs, embracing inorganic particles and soft polymeric structures. Novel strategies will be discussed to develop stealth NMs capable of avoiding biomolecular corona formation and thus evading scavenging of NMs by the mononuclear phagocyte system, leading to eventual accumulation in the liver and spleen.