The promising potential of camelid nanobodies for nuclear medicine
We are honored to share our editorial perspective alongside outstanding experts in the field of nuclear medicine.
Over a century ago, Paul Ehrlich – Nobel Laureate and one of the fathers of immunology – postulated that antibodies might be useful agents for specific targeting of diseases and coined the term “magic bullets” — highly specific agents for disease targeting. Today, camelid-derived nanobodies are making this vision a reality across multiple fields of medicine, displaying some extraordinary features over conventional antibodies.
Nanobodies labelled with radioactive isotopes are being explored for imaging and therapy in cancer, with promising results in HER2-positive tumours and PD-L1-expressing cancers, along with the possibility to improve the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and also Infectious Diseases.
Under the logic of Paul Ehrlich, nanobodies would be immuno-invisible, very tinny “radioactive loaded magic bullets” able to destroy tumors and rapidly clear from the body — nanobodies are set to reshape medicine, particularly in the theranostics field.
Biersack HJ, Rojas-Fernandez A, Ting HH, Kramer V, Juweid ME, Mottaghy FM. The promising potential of camelid nanobodies for nuclear medicine. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2025 Feb 21. doi: 10.1007/s00259-025-07136-y. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39982493.