PET Imaging of Hepatocellular Carcinomas: F-Fluoropropionic Acid as a Complementary Radiotracer for F-Fluorodeoxyglucose

Objective: To evaluate the preclinical value of 18 F-fluoropropionic acid ( 18 F-FPA) and 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) for imaging HCCs. Methods: The 18 F-FPA and 18 F-FDG uptake patterns in 3 HCC cell lines (Hep3B, HepG2, and SK-Hep1) were assessed in vitro...

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Main Authors: Jing Zhao MMed, Zhanwen Zhang MD, Dahong Nie MD, Hui Ma MD, Gongjun Yuan MD, Shu Su MMed, Shaoyu Liu DSc, Sheng Liu MD, Ganghua Tang DSc
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2019-01-01
Series:Molecular Imaging
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/1536012118821032
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Summary:Objective: To evaluate the preclinical value of 18 F-fluoropropionic acid ( 18 F-FPA) and 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) for imaging HCCs. Methods: The 18 F-FPA and 18 F-FDG uptake patterns in 3 HCC cell lines (Hep3B, HepG2, and SK-Hep1) were assessed in vitro and in vivo. The 18 F-FPA uptake mechanism was investigated using inhibition experiments with orlistat and 5-tetradecyloxy-2-furoic acid. The 18 F-FPA PET imaging was performed in different tumor animal models and compared with 18 F-FDG. We also evaluated the expressions of glucose transporter-1 (GLUT1), fatty acid synthase (FASN), and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) in these cell lines. Results: In vitro experiments showed that the radiotracer uptake patterns were complementary in the HCC cell lines. Orlistat and 5-tetradecyloxy-2-furoic acid decreased the uptake of 18 F-FPA. The tumor-to-liver ratio of 18 F-FPA was superior to that of 18 F-FDG in the SK-Hep1 and HepG2 tumors ( P < .05). However, in the Hep3B tumors, the tumor-to-liver normalized uptake of 18 F-FDG was higher than 18 F-FPA ( P < .01). FASN was highly expressed in cell lines with high 18 F-FPA uptake, whereas GLUT1 was highly expressed in cell lines with high 18 F-FDG uptake. The 18 F-FPA uptake correlated with FASN ( r = 0.89, P = .014) and MMP2 ( r = 0.77, P = .002) expressions. Conclusions: PET imaging with 18 F-FPA combined with 18 F-FDG can be an alternative for detecting HCC.
ISSN:1536-0121