The Potential Roles of Radionanomedicine and Radioexosomics in Prostate Cancer Research and Treatment.

The artificial nanostructures such as nanoparticles and natural nanostructures such as secreted nanosized extracellular vesicles known as exosomes are promising tools for the realization of personalized medicine. Radionanomedicine is a recently coined term for the simultaneous application of either radiation technology or nuclear medicine with nanomedicine. In addition, radioexosomics is our suggested term for the study of exosomes functions, cytotoxicity, cancerogenicity, and biodistribution using radiation technology and nuclear medicine tracing technology. Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and a big majority of patients with PC progress to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) mostly. The mechanisms leading to development of CRPC remain poorly understood and there is still a need to improve the therapeutic options available for PCa. In this review, a wide variety of nanostructure-based prostate cancer research using radiation technology and nuclear medicine is discussed. In addition, we will present what is currently known about the function of exosomes in PCa. The review concludes by summarizing the current status and future perspectives of radionanomedicine and radioexosomics for understanding PCa biology, as well as PCa enhancement of targeting strategies, drug delivery, molecular imaging and therapy.

A study of microRNAs in silico and in vivo: bioimaging of microRNA biogenesis and regulation.

Many recent studies have reported that microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis and function are related to the molecular mechanisms of various clinical diseases. Several methods, including northern blotting and DNA chip analyses, are capable of assessing miRNA-production patterns in cells. However, the development of repetitive monitoring of the miRNA-production profile in a noninvasive manner is demanded for the application of miRNAs to human medicine. Here, we describe a noninvasive system for monitoring miRNA biogenesis, from the stage of primary transcripts to that of mature miRNA regulation. We review the optical methods that have been developed to image miRNA production at each step of the miRNA-processing pathway in living subjects. We propose that an optical miRNA-imaging strategy, based on molecular imaging, can be used as an miRNA imaging detector to monitor various miRNAs, by using different reporters, simultaneously, for high-throughput screening, and will provide potential application for the diagnosis and therapeutics of multiple diseases.