Dendritic polymers are highly branched polymers with controllable structures, which possess a large population of terminal functional groups, low solution or melt viscosity, and good solubility. Their size, degree of branching and functionality can be adjusted and controlled through the synthetic procedures. These tunable structures correspond to application-related properties, such as biodegra...

Theranostics is a portmanteau of therapeutics and diagnostics. It can be diagnosis followed by therapy to stratify patients who will likely respond to a given treatment. It can also be therapy followed by diagnosis to monitor early response to treatment and predict treatment efficacy. It is also possible that diagnostics and therapeutics are codeveloped. For example, nanoplatforms can be design...

As Theranostics begins its second year of publication, I would like to thank our authors, reviewers, and audience for their outstanding support in 2011. I look forward to working with you in 2012 to continue our mission to distinguish Theranostics as a leader of publishing cutting edge research in this important and emerging field.

S NMMI has been increasing dialogue and collaboration with other societies with similar interests over the last several years. One important area is in diagnosis and management of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC)— radioiodine theranostics. With the efforts of multiple individuals and committees, we have significantly increased our dialogue with SNMMI members as well as collaboration with oth...

This themed issue provides up-to-date review and research articles covering the theranostic applications in the combined fields of protease research, diagnostics and drug development.

in this article, we describe a photosensitizer (ps) whose ability to generate singlet oxygen (1o2) and fluorescence emission has been designed as tumor responsive. more specifically, the ps consists of a silicon phthalocyanine (sipc) core, axially substituted with two subphthalocyanine (subpc) units, covalently linked by a disulfide linker, which is cleavable in the presence of a strong reducin...

This theme issue presents current achievements in the development of radioactive agents, pre-clinical and clinical molecular imaging, and radiotherapy in the context of theranostics in the field of oncology.

This review is focused on a novel cellular probe, the plasmonic nanobubble (PNB), which has the dynamically tunable and multiple functions of imaging, diagnosis, delivery, therapy and, ultimately, theranostics. The concept of theranostics was recently introduced in order to unite the clinically important stages of treatment, namely diagnosis, therapy and therapy guidance, into one single, rapid...

Targeted therapies, including antibodies, are becoming increasingly important in cancer therapy. Important limitations, however, are that not every patient benefits from a specific antibody therapy and that responses could be short-lived due to acquired resistance. In addition, targeted therapies are quite expensive and are not completely devoid of side-effects. This urges the need for accurate...