<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><sec><h3>Background</h3>Despite complex treatment of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, high grade gliomas often recur. Differentiation between post-treatment changes and recurrence is difficult. 18F-methyl-choline (18F-FCH) is frequently used in staging and detection of recurrent prostate cancer disease as well as some brain tumours; however accumulation in inflammatory tissue limits its specificity. The 18F-ethyl-tyrosine (18F-FET) shows a specific uptake in malignant cells, resulting from increased expression of amino acid transporters or diffusing through the disrupted blood-brain barrier. 18F-FET exhibits lower uptake in machrophages and other inflammatory cells. Aim of this study was to evaluate 18F-FCH and 18F-FET uptake by human glioblastoma T98G cells.</sec><sec><h3>Material and methods</h3>Human glioblastoma T98G or human dermal fibroblasts cells, seeded at a density to obtain 2 × 105 cells per flask when radioactive tracers were administered, grew adherent to the plastic surface at 37°C in 5% CO2 in complete medium. Equimolar amounts of radiopharmaceuticals were added to cells for different incubation times (20 to 120 minutes) for 18F-FCH and 18F-FET respectively. The cellular radiotracer uptake was determined with a gamma counter. All experiments were carried out in duplicate and repeated three times. The uptake measurements are expressed as the percentage of the administered dose of tracer per 2 × 105 cells. Data (expressed as mean values of % uptake of radiopharmaceuticals) were compared using parametric or non-parametric tests as appropriate. Differences were regarded as statistically significant when p&lt;0.05.</sec><sec><h3>Results</h3>A significant uptake of 18F-FCH was seen in T98G cells at 60, 90 and 120 minutes. The percentage uptake of 18F-FET in comparison to 18F-FCH was lower by a factor of more than 3, with different kinetic curves.18F-FET showed a more rapid initial uptake up to 40 minutes and 18F-FCH showed a progressive rise reaching a maximum after 90 minutes.</sec><sec><h3>Conclusions</h3>18F-FCH and 18F-FET are candidates for neuro-oncological PET imaging. 18F-FET could be the most useful oncological PET marker in the presence of reparative changes after therapy, where the higher affinity of 18F-FCH to inflammatory cells makes it more difficult to discriminate between tumour persistence and non-neoplastic changes. Additional studies on the influence of inflammatory tissue and radionecrotic cellular components on radiopharmaceutical uptake are necessary.</sec></abstract>

BackgroundDespite complex treatment of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, high grade gliomas often recur. Differentiation between post-treatment changes and recurrence is difficult. 18F-methyl-choline (18F-FCH) is frequently used in staging and detection of recurrent prostate cancer disease as well as some brain tumours; however accumulation in inflammatory tissue limits its specificity. The 18F-ethyl-tyrosine (18F-FET) shows a specific uptake in malignant cells, resulting from increased expression of amino acid transporters or diffusing through the disrupted blood-brain barrier. 18F-FET exhibits lower uptake in machrophages and other inflammatory cells. Aim of this study was to evaluate 18F-FCH and 18F-FET uptake by human glioblastoma T98G cells.Material and methodsHuman glioblastoma T98G or human dermal fibroblasts cells, seeded at a density to obtain 2 × 105 cells per flask when radioactive tracers were administered, grew adherent to the plastic surface at 37°C in 5% CO2 in complete medium. Equimolar amounts of radiopharmaceuticals were added to cells for different incubation times (20 to 120 minutes) for 18F-FCH and 18F-FET respectively. The cellular radiotracer uptake was determined with a gamma counter. All experiments were carried out in duplicate and repeated three times. The uptake measurements are expressed as the percentage of the administered dose of tracer per 2 × 105 cells. Data (expressed as mean values of % uptake of radiopharmaceuticals) were compared using parametric or non-parametric tests as appropriate. Differences were regarded as statistically significant when p<0.05.ResultsA significant uptake of 18F-FCH was seen in T98G cells at 60, 90 and 120 minutes. The percentage uptake of 18F-FET in comparison to 18F-FCH was lower by a factor of more than 3, with different kinetic curves.18F-FET showed a more rapid initial uptake up to 40 minutes and 18F-FCH showed a progressive rise reaching a maximum after 90 minutes.Conclusions18F-FCH and 18F-FET are candidates for neuro-oncological PET imaging. 18F-FET could be the most useful oncological PET marker in the presence of reparative changes after therapy, where the higher affinity of 18F-FCH to inflammatory cells makes it more difficult to discriminate between tumour persistence and non-neoplastic changes. Additional studies on the influence of inflammatory tissue and radionecrotic cellular components on radiopharmaceutical uptake are necessary.

18F-FET and 18F-FCH uptake in human glioblastoma T98G cell lines

Department of Oncohaematology, Nuclear Medicine Unit, IRCCS San Matteo Hospital Foundation, Pavia, Italy

Department of Oncohaematology, Radiotherapy Unit, IRCCS San Matteo Hospital Foundation, Pavia, Italy

Department of Biology and Biotecnology “Lazzaro Spallanzani”, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

Nuclear medicine research department, Iason, Graz, Austria

Radiology and Oncology

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

F-FET and F-FCH uptake in human glioblastoma T98G cell lines

BackgroundDespite complex treatment of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, high grade gliomas often recur. Differentiation between post-treatment changes...

¹⁸F-FET and ¹⁸F-FCH uptake in human glioblastoma T98G cell lines

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Apr 19, 2016

Page range: 153 - 158

Received: Nov 26, 2015

Accepted: Mar 18, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/raon-2016-0022

Keywords

© 2016 Radiol Oncol

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.