Trace and Treat: Biodistribution and Therapeutic Potential of Radiolabeled Molecular and Supramolecular Carriers

Molecules able to specifically accumulate in tumor tissue have greatly improved the detection of tumor tissue via molecular imaging and the delivery of drugs for therapeutic purposes. The results obtained in this field have strongly encouraged novel research leading to a huge proliferation of novel tumor-targeting compounds, able to accumulate in the tumor via different mechanisms. Besides molecular probes, supramolecular particles are also being developed, including, polymers, polymeric micelles, nanoparticles, liposomes, and micro bubbles. They represent emerging molecular imaging instruments because of their high versatility to serve as imaging agents. In this thesis, we describe our studies on biological properties of two categories of biomolecules, i.e. peptides and nanoparticles, that were labeled with a radionuclide or dual-labeled with a radionuclide and an fluorochrome, thereby describing some main biological barriers these compounds have to overcome to reach the tumor tissue.

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