BME 695N Lecture 4: Designing "Theragnostic" Systems

Outline:Bridging the gap between diagnostics and therapeuticsHow conventional medicine is practiced in terms of diagnostics and therapeuticsThe consequences of separating diagnostics and therapeuticsA new approach – "theragnostics" (or "theranostics")Examples of current theragnostic systemsExample: Rituxan ("Rituximab)(an example of not using diagnostics to guide the therapy)Example 1: Herceptin ("terastuzumab")Example 2: Iressa ("Gefitinib)How theragnostics relates to Molecular ImagingConventional imaging is not very specificTypes of In-vivo ImagingX-rays, CAT (Computed Axial Tomography) scansMRI (magnetic Resonance Imaging)PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans"Molecular Imaging"Engineering nanomedical systems for simultaneous molecular imagingUsing nanomedical cores for MRI contrast agentsDifficulties in using PET probes for nanomedical devicesUsing cell-specific probes for molecular imaging of nanomedical devicesBreaking the "diffraction limit" – nano-level imagingTheragnostic nanomedical devicesUsing nanomedical devices to guide separate therapeutic deviceWhen might we want to combine diagnostics and therapeutics?