Development of Antibody and Antibody Fragment-Based Radiopharmaceuticals for Cancer Imaging and Therapy

Cancer has been the leading cause of death and imposing tremendous socioeconomical pressure worldwide. It is considered the most difficult disease to tackle and major obstacle for extending life expectancy. Radiopharmaceuticals in the field of cancer diagnosis and therapy have drawn a lot of research interest past years due to clinical success, e.g. [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 (Pluvicto®) for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Antibody-based radiopharmaceuticals are the most studied in the field of nuclear medicine for cancer attributed to antibody’s great tumor targeting ability. In this manuscript, recent preclinical studies of developing imaging and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals based on antibody or antibody fragments, including affibody and nanobody, are introduced.