Bridging the gap to clinical translation: the advanced role of PET molecular imaging in stem cell therapy.

In the past few decades, stem cell therapy has achieved remarkable progress in preclinical and clinical trials, especially for treating major diseases, such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease (PD), myocardial infarction, diabetes, etc (Temple, Cell Stem Cell 30:512-29, 2023). However, the current challenge in clinical translation lies in the difficulty in non-invasively, dynamically, and quantitatively assessing the survival, proliferation, homing, migration, and function of stem cells in vivo. This lack of assessment leads to inconsistent therapeutic effects, unclear mechanisms, and difficulties in optimizing dosages (Hussen et al., Int J Surg. 110:8002-24, 2024). Positron emission tomography (PET), with its superior sensitivity and quantitative capability, is an ideal technology to visualize and monitor stem cells in vivo. Also, as an advanced tool of precision medicine, PET molecular imaging can accurately evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and predict the outcome of stem cell therapy (Cen et al., Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 53:71-92, 2025). It integrates individual features, cellular properties, and dynamic biomarkers, achieving personalized strategies of stem cell therapy with maximized efficacy and minimized risks in clinical practice. Thus, PET plays a key role in bridging the gap to clinical translation and accelerate clinical practice of stem cell therapy.