Molecular Imaging in the Aid of Drug Delivery Technology

Abstract

Molecular imaging aims to visualize biological processes in a living system at a molecular or cellularlevel while drug delivery systems (DDS) aim to deliver drugs to specific targets of tissues or organs at a controlledrate. Molecular imaging and DDS, seemingly two different subjects, however, are not completely separate. Theyshare overlapped conceptual and technological spectra. To visualize molecular events in body molecular imaging requiresdelivery of imaging probes to specific targets, which has been the main technology developed in DDS fordecades. Simply replacing drugs in targeted therapeutic DDS with imaging probes turns the whole system totargeted imaging system for diagnosis of diseases. Integrating imaging probes into therapeutic DDS is a startingpoint for theragnotics, therapy, and diagnosis performed simultaneously with one agent. Key DDS technologiesapplied to molecular imaging have played an important role in advances of molecular imaging. We here brieflydiscuss molecular imaging in the aid of drug delivery technology, with an emphasis on theragnotics of tumors.