Sex-Informed Precision Nuclear Medicine: From Sex-Specific Diseases to Broad Clinical Applications

About this Research Topic

Background

Sex differences in medicine can influence disease risk, presentation, and treatment response as much as—or even more than—other major biological variables. Rather than following a simple linear program, these differences arise from the interplay of genetic, hormonal, and epigenetic factors, shaping health and disease across multiple organ systems. Their impact is well established in sex-specific pathologies, such as reproductive and endocrine system diseases, and equally critical—but less explored—in modulating disease phenotype, progression, and therapeutic response in other conditions.

In nuclear medicine, these effects are observed not only in sex-specific oncological applications, including breast and gynecological cancers in women or prostate cancer in men, but also in diseases with sex-biased prevalence, such as neurological, cardiovascular, and autoimmune disorders. Furthermore, pharmacokinetics and technical aspects of imaging differ between sexes, underscoring the importance of integrating sex as a core variable in molecular imaging to advance precision medicine and optimize patient care.

The aim of this Research Topic is to promote the systematic integration of sex-specific and sex-differentiated approaches in nuclear medicine, spanning well-established applications in endocrine and reproductive system diseases to less explored domains, including neurology, cardiology, and autoimmune conditions. Molecular imaging offers unique opportunities to uncover sex-dependent disease mechanisms, refine diagnostic accuracy, and guide tailored therapeutic strategies.

This Research Topic will bring together evidence from preclinical, translational, and clinical research, showcasing both consolidated knowledge—such as imaging of sex-specific malignancies—and emerging insights from diseases where sex differences remain under-investigated. Particular emphasis is placed on studies exploring how sex influences molecular targets, tracer behavior, dosimetry, and imaging readouts, as well as advances in sex-specific pathology that can inform more widely studied conditions. The ultimate goal is to build a comprehensive scientific framework supporting sex-informed precision nuclear medicine.

We welcome submissions covering the full spectrum of nuclear medicine, including preclinical, translational, and clinical research. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- Sex-specific diseases, particularly of the endocrine and reproductive systems (e.g., breast and prostate cancers) as key application domains;

- Sex-biased prevalence or expression in conditions such as neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, and autoimmune disorders;

- Hormonal, anatomical, and metabolic influences on tracer kinetics, dosimetry, and imaging interpretation;

- Development and validation of sex-informed molecular imaging biomarkers;

- Methodological strategies for integrating sex as a biological variable in study design and analysis.

We encourage submission of original research, reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, perspectives, case reports, and methodological papers.

Multidisciplinary contributions bridging nuclear medicine with endocrinology, oncology, neurology, cardiology, and radiopharmaceutical sciences are particularly welcome.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Women’s health, Men’s health, Sex differences, Gender medicine, Precision medicine, Nuclear medicine, Molecular imaging, PET, SPECT, Imaging biomarkers, Translational research, Radiopharmaceuticals

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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