Recent Advances in Radiotracers Targeting Novel Cancer-Specific Biomarkers in China: A Brief Overview

Radiopharmaceuticals play a critical role in nuclear medicine, providing novel tools for specifically delivering radioisotopes for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers. As the starting point for developing radiopharmaceuticals, cancer-specific biomarkers are important and receive worldwide attention. This field in China is currently experiencing a rapid expansion, with multiple radiotracers targeting novel targets being developed and translated into clinical studies. This review provides a brief overview of the exploration of novel imaging targets, preclinical evaluation of their targeting ligands, and translational research in China from 2020 to 2023, for detecting cancer, guiding targeted therapy, and visualizing the immune microenvironment. We believe that China will play an even more important role in the development of nuclear medicine in the world in the future.