Published in:
01-10-2013 | Original Article
Diagnostic usefulness of 18F-FAMT PET and L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma
Authors:
Aiko Nobusawa, Mai Kim, Kyoichi Kaira, Go Miyashita, Akihide Negishi, Noboru Oriuchi, Tetsuya Higuchi, Yoshito Tsushima, Yoshikatsu Kanai, Satoshi Yokoo, Tetsunari Oyama
Published in:
European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
|
Issue 11/2013
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Abstract
Purpose
l-[3-18F]-α–Methyltyrosine (18F-FAMT) was developed as an amino acid tracer for PET imaging to provide better specificity than 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (18F-FDG) PET for cancer diagnosis. We investigated the diagnostic usefulness of 18F-FAMT in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The correlation between tumour uptake of 18F-FAMT and L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) expression was determined.
Methods
The study group comprised 68 OSCC patients who underwent both 18F-FAMT and 18F-FDG PET. Resected tumour sections were stained by immunohistochemistry for LAT1, CD98 and Ki-67, and microvessel density was determined in terms of CD34 and p53 expression.
Results
The sensitivity of primary tumour detection by 18F-FAMT and 18F-FDG PET was 98 % and 100 %, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 18F-FAMT PET for detecting malignant lymph nodes were 68 %, 99 % and 97 %, respectively, and equivalent values for 18F-FDG PET were 84 %, 94 % and 94 %, respectively. The specificity and accuracy of 18F-FAMT were significantly higher than those of 18F-FDG. The uptake of 18F-FAMT was significantly correlated with LAT1 expression, cell proliferation and advanced stage. The expression of LAT1 in OSCC cells was closely correlated with CD98 levels, cell proliferation and angiogenesis.
Conclusion
18F-FAMT PET showed higher specificity for detecting malignant lesions than 18F-FDG PET. The uptake of 18F-FAMT by OSCC cells can be determined by the presence of LAT1 expression and tumour cell proliferation.