D-18F-fluoromethyl tyrosine imaging of bone metastases in a mouse model.

UNLABELLED

The presence and localization of metastatic bone lesions is important for the staging of the disease and subsequent treatment decisions. Detecting tumor cells would have additional value over the current indirect bone scintigraphy method for detecting areas of elevated skeletal metabolic activity. d-(18)F-fluoromethyl tyrosine (d-(18)F-FMT) has recently shown good uptake and fast elimination, resulting in good tumor-to-background ratios. The potential of d-(18)F-FMT for imaging bone metastases has been investigated.

METHODS

786-O/luciferase human renal adenocarcinoma cells were injected intracardially, resulting in the formation of bone metastases in mice. Small-animal PET was performed 51 and 65 d after tumor cell inoculation.

RESULTS

d-(18)F-FMT showed specific uptake in the bone metastases, giving excellent images with a little background in the pancreas. All imaged metastases were histologically confirmed. A bone scan with (18)F-fluoride showed elevated skeletal metabolic activity in the areas of osteolytic lesions.

CONCLUSION

d-(18)F-FMT is a useful PET tracer for the detection of bone metastases and should be evaluated in the clinical setting.