Harnessing the Power of Molecular Imaging for Precision Medicine

The field of molecular imaging has witnessed tremendous expanSion over the last decade (1). A wide variety of molecular imaging agents (e.g., radiolabeled, fluorescently labeled, and nanoparticle-based) have been developed and optimized for preclinical and clinical investigation. Now is the prime time to reap the fruit of such tremendous development in the field via the use of multi parametric molecular imaging to monitor the efficacy of targeted therapies and guide the rational design of more efficacious combination therapy. In this issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Gao et al. from Peking University Health Science Center reported the elegant use of multimodality, multiparametric molecular imaging to interrogate the biologic effects of a drug in a mouse tumor model, which revealed valuable insights into the mechanisms of the drug action and led to the design of a combination therapy strategy with significantly improved efficacy (2).