[Relationship between fluorodeoxyglucose uptake and vascular endothelial growth factor in early-stage nasophygeal carcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
To study the overexpression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and evaluate their relationship.


METHODS
FDG positron emission tomography (PET) was performed in forty patients with stage I and stage II NPC. The maximum and mean standard uptake values (SUVmax and SUVmean, respectively) were measured in each patient, and the expression of VEGF was measured on paraffin sections using immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
The FDG uptake in the patients were 9.45-/+1.87 (SUVmax) and 6.04-/+1.09 (SUVmean), 8.95-/+1.91 (SUVmax) and 6.04-/+1.09 (SUVmean) in stage I patients, and 11.55-/+1.70 (SUVmax) and 7.98-/+1.1 (SUVmean) in stage II patients. The FDG uptake of stage II patients was higher than that of stage I patients. The FDG uptake of non-keratinizing differentiated carcinoma was 9.74-/+1.82 (SUVmax) and 6.82-/+1.23 (SUVmean) and 10.44-/+2.16 (SUVmax) and 6.68-/+1.35 (SUVmean) in non-keratinizing undifferentiated carcinoma, showing no significant differences between them (SUVmax: t=1.230, P>0.05; SUVmean: t=0.346, P>0.05). The VEGF-positive cells were 60.80% in the tumor. A correlation between VEGF expression and FDG uptake in he tumor was noted (r=0.460, P=0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
VEGF overexpression is correlated to FDG uptake in patients with early-stage NPC. The SUV value reflects the glucose metabolism of NPC, and also shows the degree of oxygen insufficiency in the tumor tissue.
Fan
Yi-xiang
YX
Department of Nuclear Medicine, the Second People's Hospital of Guangdong Provincial, Guangzhou 510317, China. fanyix06@sohu.com
Shi
Wei-min
WM
Li
Jing
J
Yin
Ji-lin
JL
Yang
Chuan-hong
CH
Gao
Mei-ju
MJ
Wu
Ji-zhen
JZ
Liu
Qin-zhu
QZ
Li
Ke-bin
KB
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18