Targeted alpha therapy is an emerging alternative for palliative therapy of a wide range of tumor types. Data from preclinicaland clinical research demonstrates a high potential for the selective killing of tumor cells and minimal toxicity to surroundinghealthy tissues. This article summarizes the developmental stages of alpha-targeted therapy from benchtop to commercialization.It discusses fundamental properties, production pathways, microdosimetry, and possible targeting vectors. Proper coverage hasalso been given to comparing it with other standard treatment procedures while exploring clinical applications of alpha emitters.In the end, like other therapies, the challenges it faces and its future impact on personalized medicine are also illustrated.

Besides the broad development of nanotechnological approaches for cancer diagnosis and therapy, currently, there is no significant progress in the treatment of different types of brain tumors. Therapeutic molecules crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and reaching an appropriate targeting ability remain the key challenges. Many invasive and non-invasive methods, and various types of nanocarriers and their hybrids have been widely explored for brain tumor treatment. However, unfortunately, no crucial clinical translations were observed to date. In particular, chemotherapy and surgery remain the main methods for the therapy of brain tumors. Exploring the mechanisms of the BBB penetration in detail and investigating advanced drug delivery platforms are the key factors that could bring us closer to understanding the development of effective therapy against brain tumors. In this review, we discuss the most relevant aspects of the BBB penetration mechanisms, observing both invasive and non-invasive methods of drug delivery. We also review the recent progress in the development of functional drug delivery platforms, from viruses to cell-based vehicles, for brain tumor therapy. The destructive potential of chemotherapeutic drugs delivered to the brain tumor is also considered. This review then summarizes the existing challenges and future prospects in the use of drug delivery platforms for the treatment of brain tumors.

The chemically stabilized somatostatin-derived cyclic octapeptide octreotate has a number of interesting applications in medicinal chemistry. Here, a number of different organometallic derivatives of octreotate were prepared, and their properties were investigated. Specifically, we report the synthesis and characterization of ruthenocene, ferrocene, and cobaltocenium octreotate derivatives and their fluorophore-labeled conjugates as well as a dicobalt hexacarbonyl alkyne functionalized octreotate. To provide further insights into their characteristics, the log P values and electrochemical properties of the novel metal conjugates were compared. For biological activity, we determined their toxicity in three different cell lines. Cellular uptake and colocalization of selected compounds were studied by fluorescence microscopy with particular focus on efficiency and specificity of their uptake through the somatostatin receptor SSTR to elucidate the value of the metallocene head group for its potential use as a nontoxic and universal peptide label.