¹⁸F-FAMT uptake correlates with tumor proliferative activity in oral squamous cell carcinoma: comparative study with ¹⁸F-FDG PET and immunohistochemistry.
OBJECTIVE
L-3-[¹⁸F]-fluoro-α-methyl tyrosine (FAMT) is transported into cancer cells by L: -type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1). The purpose of the present study is to correlate the uptake of FAMT and FDG with the cellular proliferative activity measured by the Ki-67 labeling index (Ki-67 LI) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).


METHODS
Twenty-five patients with OSCC were enrolled in this study. Both FAMT-PET and FDG-PET were performed within 4 weeks before surgery in all cases. The uptake of FAMT and FDG was compared by semiquantitative analysis with maximal standardized uptake values (SUVmax) of the primary tumors. Ki-67 LI of the tumors was analyzed by immunohistochemical staining and correlated with the clinicopathologic variables and the uptake of PET tracers.


RESULTS
For primary tumor detection, FAMT-PET exhibited a sensitivity of 84%, whereas that of FDG-PET was 88%. In all visible lesions, mean FDG uptake determined by average SUVmax was 9.7 (range 4.2-15.9) and mean FAMT uptake was 3.5 (range 1.3-8.5). The SUVmax of FAMT tended to show a better correlation with Ki-67 LI (r = 0.878) than that of FDG (r = 0.643).


CONCLUSIONS
Uptake of FAMT correlated with cellular proliferation of OSCC. FAMT-PET may be a useful procedure to evaluate tumor proliferation of OSCC.
Miyashita
Go
G
Department of Stomatology and Oral Surgery, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
Higuchi
Tetsuya
T
Oriuchi
Noboru
N
Arisaka
Yukiko
Y
Hanaoka
Hirofumi
H
Tominaga
Hideyuki
H
Morita
Satoshi
S
Miyakubo
Mitsuyuki
M
Ishikita
Tomohiro
T
Nakasone
Yoshiki
Y
Negishi
Akihide
A
Yokoo
Satoshi
S
Endo
Keigo
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001692:Biological Transport; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism
C493093:O-(18F)fluoromethyl-L-tyrosine; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D014443:Tyrosine