18F-alfatide positron emission tomography may predict anti-angiogenic responses

Abstract

As the crucial issue in the development of anti-angiogenic drugs is how to predict which patients will and will not benefit prior to the initiation of therapy, angiogenic18F-alfatide positron emission computed tomography (PET) was assessed in the present study. Lung adenocarcinoma A549 (high angiogenesis) and prostate PC-3 (low angiogenesis) cell xenografted tumor-bearing mice underwent18F-alfatide PET at baseline and following treatment with either an anti-angiogenic therapy or vehicle. The evaluation index for the inhibition of tumor growth in the individuals in the treated groups was represented by treatment/control (T/C) ratio (%). Anti-angiogenic responses were denoted by the changes in18F-alfatide uptake in the same animal. The T/C ratio was lower in high-uptake tumors than in low-uptake tumors (P=0.001). A significant difference in the tumor volumes between the anti-angiogenic therapy group and the control group occurred earlier in the A549 model than in the PC-3 model.18F-alfatide uptake decreased more for A549 tumors than for PC-3 tumors following anti-angiogenic therapy. In each treatment group, the degree of tumor response to anti-angiogenic therapy was associated well with the tumor uptake prior to treatment (P<0.05). These results indicated that18F-alfatide PET may be a useful molecular imaging tool for individual selection prior to anti-angiogenic drug therapy.