Radionanomedicine: Combined Nuclear and Nanomedicine

D.S. Lee (ed.)

Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG, 2018, 446 pages, $159.99

Nuclear medicine is practiced every day in the clinic by nuclear physicians in collaboration with nuclear biologists, chemists, and physicists. Nanomedicine is a medical application of nanotechnology, and it uses nanomaterials, biologic and nanoelectronic devices, biosensors, and possibly molecular nanotechnology. One way nanomedicine has expanded is into radionanomedicine, which relies on the labeling of radionuclides onto a small amount of nanomaterials for theragnosis. This expansion might help to solve the problems in the current practice of medicine, which includes oncology, infection/inflammation, and brain and heart diseases. Scientists would like to understand how to coordinate and implement the current knowledge of nanomaterials and their behavior in the human body to further the use of theranostics. This is the first book describing the combined efforts of physicians and radiopharmaceutical scientists in creating a new medical field, radionanomedicine.

The book was written by 35 contributors who are the experts in nuclear medicine and nanotechnology. It is organized into 8 parts with 22 chapters. Part I, with 4 chapters, deals with exogenous radionanomedicine, including inorganic, graphene-based and organic nanomaterials, as well as porphyrin and phthalocyanine radiolabeling. The 4 chapters in part II discuss endogenous radionanomedicine, including extracellular vesicles, radiolabeling, biodistribution and imaging as well as validation of therapeutic potential. Part III, with 2 chapters, handles surface modification and radiolabeling, and part IV, with 3 chapters, reviews targeted delivery using click chemistry and ¹⁸F labeling. Part V (2 chapters) discusses in vivo biodistribution, including preclinical PET and SPECT as well as tracer kinetics, and part VI (3 chapters) deals with factors affecting biodistribution, including pharmacokinetics, polyethylene glycolation, excretion, and clearance. Part VII, with 2 chapters, discusses immune response and innate immunity to nanomaterials, and part VIII (2 chapters) provides prospects of molecular imaging and theranostics of radionanomedicine. There is a short summary in each part, which is educational. The illustrations are clear and informative, and tables are concise and helpful. References in each chapter are updated, and the index is useful.

The editor’s purpose and vision of furthering the understanding of radionanomedicine is clearly met with this first book on the topic. I am sure that this book stimulates research workers in nanomedicine to improve nanotechnology and its application in medicine as nanomedicine affects almost all the aspects of health care. I highly recommend this book to all practitioners as well as research workers in nuclear medicine, imaging, and nanotechnology.

• © 2019 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.