Stereotactic Comparison Study of 18F-Alfatide and 18F-FDG PET Imaging in an LLC Tumor-Bearing C57BL/6 Mouse Model

Abstract

This study aimed to stereotactically compare the PET imaging performance of 18F-Alfatide (18F-ALF-NOTA-PRGD2, denoted as 18F-Alfatide) and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining in Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) tumor-bearing C57BL/6 mouse model. 18F-FDG standard uptake values (SUVs) were higher than 18F-Alfatide SUVs in tumors, most of the normal tissues and organs except for the bladder. Tumor-to-brain, tumor-to-lung, and tumor-to-heart ratios of 18F-Alfatide PET were significantly higher than those of 18F-FDG PET (P < 0.001). The spatial heterogeneity of the tumors was detected, and the tracer accumulation enhanced from the outer layer to the inner layer consistently using the two tracers. The parameters of the tumors were significantly correlated with each other between 18F-FDG SUV and GLUT-1 (R = 0.895, P < 0.001), 18F-Alfatide SUV and αvβ3 (R = 0.595, P = 0.019), 18F-FDG SUV and 18F-Alfatide SUV (R = 0.917, P < 0.001), and GLUT-1 and αvβ3 (R = 0.637, P = 0.011). Therefore, 18F-Alfatide PET may be an effective tracer for tumor detection, spatial heterogeneity imaging and an alternative supplement to 18F-FDG PET, particularly for patients with enhanced characteristics in the brain, chest tumors or diabetes, meriting further study.