Glucose transporters and FDG uptake in untreated primary human non-small cell lung cancer.
PET imaging of malignant tumors with 2-[fluorine-18]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) as a tracer is a noninvasive diagnostic and prognostic tool that measures tumor metabolism. In this study, we assessed the relationships between FDG uptake and the expression of facilitative glucose transporters, the sizes of populations of proliferating cells and infiltrating macrophages in patients with primary non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC).


METHODS
FDG uptake and the expression of five glucose transporters and the proportions of proliferating cell and macrophage populations were studied in paraffin sections from untreated primary lung cancers by immunohistochemistry. The patients were imaged with FDG PET before surgery.


RESULTS
All tumors could be detected by FDG PET. Uptake was correlated with tumor size (P = 0.004). FDG uptake was lower in adenocarcinomas (ACs) than in squamous cell carcinomas (SQCs) (P = 0.03) or large cell carcinomas (P = 0.002) [standardized uptake value corrected for lean body mass (SUL) = 5.42 +/- 2.77, 8.04 +/-3.25 and 10.42 +/- 4.54, respectively]. Glut-1 expression was significantly higher than that of any other transporter. All tumors tested (n = 23) were Glut-1-positive (70.8% +/- 26.1% of tumor cell area was positive and staining intensity was 2.8 +/- 1.2). Glut-1 expression was higher in SQCs (78% +/- 17.8% and 3.5 +/-0.6) than in ACs (47.5% +/- 30.3% and 1.6 +/- 1.1; P = 0.044 for positive tumor cell area and P = 0.005 for staining intensity). Proliferating cells constituted 15.3% +/- 13.1% of the cancer cells, and the average number of macrophages was 7.8% +/- 6.3%; neither correlated with FDG uptake.


CONCLUSIONS
In this population of patients with NSCLC, Glut-1 is the major glucose transporter expressed. Both FDG uptake and Glut-1 expression appear to be associated with tumor size. No association was found between FDG uptake and either macrophage or proliferative cell populations.
Brown
R S
RS
Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor 48109-0028, USA.
Leung
J Y
JY
Kison
P V
PV
Zasadny
K R
KR
Flint
A
A
Wahl
R L
RL
D000368:Aged; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed
D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18