18F-Alfatide II for the evaluation of axillary lymph nodes in breast cancer patients: comparison with 18F-FDG.

PURPOSE: 18F-Alfatide II has been translated into clinical use and been proven to have good performance in identifying breast cancer. In this study, we investigated 18F-Alfatide II for evaluation of axillary lymph nodes (ALN) in breast cancer patients and compared the performance with 18F-FDG. METHODS: A total of 44 female patients with clinically suspected breast cancer were enrolled and underwent 18F-Alfatide II and 18F-FDG PET/CT within a week. Tracer uptakes in ALN were evaluated by visual analysis, semi-quantitative analysis with maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean), and SUVmax ratio of target/non-target (T/NT). RESULTS: Among 44 patients, 37 patients were pathologically diagnosed with breast cancer with metastatic (17 cases) or non-metastatic (20 cases) ALN. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of visual analysis were 70.6%, 90%, 81.1%, 85.7%, and 78.3% for 18F-Alfatide II, 64.7%, 90%, 78.4%, 84.6%, and 75% for 18F-FDG, respectively. By combining 18F-Alfatide II and 18F-FDG, the sensitivity significantly increased to 82.4%, the specificity was 85%, the accuracy increased to 83.8%, the PPV was 82.4%, and the NPV significantly increased to 85.0%. Three cases of luminal B subtype were false negative for both 18F-Alfatide II and 18F-FDG. The other 2 false negative cases of 18F-Alfatide II were triple-negative subtype and 3 false negative cases of 18F-FDG were luminal B subtype too. The AUCs of three semi-quantitative parameters (SUVmax, SUVmean, T/NT) for 18F-Alfatide II were between 0.8 and 0.9, whereas those for 18F-FDG were more than 0.9. 18F-Alfatide II T/NT had the highest Youden index (76.5%), specificity (100%), accuracy (89.2%), and PPV (100%) among these semi-quantitative parameters. 18F-Alfatide II uptake as well as 18F-FDG uptake in metastatic axillary lymph nodes (MALN) was significantly higher than that in benign axillary lymph nodes (BALN). Both 18F-Alfatide II and 18F-FDG did not show difference in primary tumor uptake irrespective of ALN status. CONCLUSION: 18F-Alfatide II can be used in breast cancer patients to detect metastatic ALN, however, like 18F-FDG, with high specificity but relatively low sensitivity. The combination of 18F-Alfatide II and 18F-FDG can significantly improve sensitivity and NPV. 18F-Alfatide II T/NT may serve as the most important semi-quantitative parameter to evaluate ALN.

Combined 18F-FDG and 18F-Alfatide II PET May Predict Luminal B (HER2 Negative) Subtype and Nonluminal Subtype of Invasive Breast Cancer.

Noninvasive PET molecular imaging using radiopharmaceuticals is important to classify breast cancer in the clinic. The aim of this study was to investigate the combination of 18F-FDG and 18F-Alfatide II for predicting molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer. Forty-four female patients with clinically suspected breast cancer were recruited and underwent 18F-FDG and 18F-Alfatide II PET/CT within a week. Tracer uptake in breast lesions was assessed using the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean), and SUVmax ratio of 18F-FDG to 18F-Alfatide II (FAR). Invasive breast cancer lesions were further classified as luminal A subtype, luminal B subtype, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) overexpressing subtype, and triple negative subtype according to the expression of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), HER2, and Ki-67. Among 44 patients, 35 patients were pathologically diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. The SUVmax and SUVmean of 18F-FDG were significantly higher in the ER-negative group than those in the ER-positive group, as well as in the PR-negative group than those in the PR-positive group. However, the SUVmax and SUVmean of 18F-Alfatide II were higher in the ER-positive group and the PR-positive group. By combining 18F-FDG and 18F-Alfatide II, the FAR was lower in the ER-positive group and the PR-positive group. The HER2 overexpressing subtype showed the highest SUVmax and SUVmean for 18F-FDG while the luminal B (HER2 negative) subtype revealed the lowest values. The luminal B (HER2 negative) subtype showed the highest 18F-Alfatide II SUVmax, while the triple negative subtype showed the lowest 18F-Alfatide II SUVmax. The FAR was the lowest in the luminal B (HER2 negative) subtype and much higher in the HER2 overexpressing and triple negative subtypes. FAR less than 1 predicted the luminal B (HER2 negative) subtype with high specificity (93.1%) and NPV (90%). FAR greater than 3 predicted the HER2 overexpressing subtype and triple negative subtype (namely, the nonluminal subtype) with very high specificity (100%) and PPV (100%). In summary, FAR, the combined PET parameter of 18F-FDG and 18F-Alfatide II, can be used to predict molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer, especially for the luminal B (HER2 negative) subtype and the nonluminal subtype.

Fluorrine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography of adult liver Langerhans cell histiocytosis.

OBJECTIVE: Adult liver Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is an extremely rare desease. This paper reports a 40 years old male patient who was diagnosed as liver LCH though ultrasound-guided liver biopsy. The initial Fluorrine-18- fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/ computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) showed multiple nodular low-density lesions in liver without obvious elevated 18F-FDG uptake. Four years later, the follow-up 18F-FDG PET/CT showed the liver multiple lesions with slightly elevated 18F-FDG uptake. CONCLUSION: We describe this case, to highlight the importance of 18F-FDG PET/CT in differential diagnosis for the primary disease and the multiple liver nodules.

Decreased expression of eukaryotic initiation factor 3f is an adverse prognostic factor for stage I-III gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: It has been demonstrated that eIF3f expression is significantly decreased in many human cancers, a fact which plays an important role in human cancer. However, the expression of eIF3f in gastric cancer (GC) is not well understood to date. Therefore, the aim of this study is to detect the expression of eIF3f in GC. METHODS: The expression of eIF3f was examined by immunohistochemistry in tissues with stage I to III GC and adjacent non-cancerous tissues (ANCT) of 195 gastrectomy specimens; clinicopathological results, including survival, were analyzed. RESULTS: The positive expression rate of eIF3f was significantly higher in ANCT tissues than in GC. eIF3f levels were correlated with more advanced tumor stages and likelihood of recurrence (all P<0.05). The Kaplan-Meier survival curves indicated that decreased expression of eIF3f could serve as a prognosis marker for poor outcome of GC patients (P=0.04). CONCLUSIONS: eIF3f may play an important role in recurrence, thus representing a promising predictive marker for the prognosis of GC.