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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1533532
This article is part of the Research Topic Immunoregulation in Urological Disorders: Novel Targets and Therapies View all 3 articles

Advances in Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen-Targeted Theranostics: From Radionuclides to Near-Infrared (NIR) Fluorescence Technology

Provisionally accepted
Zhongji Jiang Zhongji Jiang 1,2Gaohaer Kadeerhan Gaohaer Kadeerhan 1Jin Zhang Jin Zhang 1,3Wenmin Guo Wenmin Guo 1Hong Guo Hong Guo 1,3Dongwen Wang Dongwen Wang 1,2*
  • 1 National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital & Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen, China
  • 2 Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
  • 3 First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shaanxi, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) is a highly expressed and structurally unique target specific to prostate cancer (PCa). Diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in nuclear medicine, coupling PSMA ligands with radionuclides, have shown significant clinical success. PSMA-PET/CT effectively identifies tumors and metastatic lymph nodes for imaging purposes, while 177Lu -PSMA-617 (Pluvicto) has received FDA approval for treating metastatic castration-resistant PCa (mCRPC). Despite their success, radionuclide-based diagnostic and therapeutic methods face limitations such as high costs and significant side effects. Recently, near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging and phototherapy have advanced significantly in biomedical applications. It's benefits, such as deep tissue penetration, realtime precision, and minimal side effects, have driven broader clinical adoption, especially in fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS). This review suggests combining NIR dyes with PSMA ligands to enable targeted, high-resolution imaging with superior signal-to-background ratios, facilitating precise FGS. NIR techniques can also aid pathological diagnosis in ex vivo specimens. Furthermore, combining photosensitizers with PSMA ligands allows localized photothermal (PTT) or photodynamic therapy (PDT) under NIR irradiation, producing heat or reactive oxygen species (ROS) to treat PCa. This review aims to extend the clinical success of radionuclide-based PSMA targeting by exploring advances in NIR-based FGS and phototherapy, presenting a promising new diagnostic and therapeutic approach.

    Keywords: prostate cancer (PCa), prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), Near-infrared/Shortwave infrared (NIR/SWIR), targeted imaging, fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS), Radioligand therapy (RLT), Photothermal therapy (PTT), Photodynamic therapy (PDT)

    Received: 24 Nov 2024; Accepted: 13 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jiang, Kadeerhan, Zhang, Guo, Guo and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Dongwen Wang, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital & Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.