Anti‑migratory effect of rapamycin impairs allograft imaging by 18F‑fluorodeoxyglucose‑labeled splenocytes.

Abstract

Tracking lymphocyte migration is an emerging strategy for non‑invasive nuclear imaging of allografts; however, its clinical application remains to be fully demonstrated. In the present study, the feasibility of using rapamycin‑treated 18F‑fluorodeoxyglucose (18F‑FDG)‑labeled splenocytes for the invivo imaging of allografts was evaluated. C57BL/6 skin was heterotopically transplanted onto non‑obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient recipient mice. BALB/c 18F‑FDG‑labeled splenocytes with or without rapamycin pretreatment (designated as FR and FC cells, respectively) were transferred into recipient mice 30days later. Imaging of radiolabeled cells in the skin grafts was conducted through invivo dynamic whole‑body phosphor‑autoradiography and histological analysis. Notably, rapamycin impaired the migration of 18F‑FDG‑labeled splenocytes to the graft. At all time points, the radioactivity of allografts (digital light units/mm2) was significantly lower in the group that received FR cells, compared with the group that received FC cells (P<0.01). Furthermore, the peak allograft to native skin ratio was 1.29±0.02 at 60min for the FR group and 3.29±0.17 at 30min for the FC group (P<0.001). In addition, the invivo radioactivity of the allografts was observed to be correlated with the transferred cells, which were observed histologically (r2=0.887; P<0.0001). Although 18F‑FDG‑labeled splenocytes migrated to the allograft, imaging of these cells may not be possible in the presence of rapamycin.