Abstract
Uptake of L-methyl-11C-methionine (11C-methionine) in breast cancer metastases was studied with positron emission tomography (PET). Eight patients with soft tissue metastases were studied twice: before the onset of chemotherapy (4), hormonal therapy (3) or radiotherapy (1) and 3-14 weeks later. The radioactivity concentration of the low molecular weight fraction of venous plasma samples separated by fast gel filtration was used as input function. The input corrected uptake rate of 11C-methionine (Ki) in breast cancer metastases before the treatment ranged between 0.035 and 0.186 1 min-1 and the standardised uptake value (SUV) between 2.0 and 11.4. The uptake of 11C-methionine into the metastases decreased when clinical objective stability or regression of the metastases was later obtained and increased in cases where progressive disease was seen during treatment. We conclude that metabolic changes in the amino acid metabolism detected by PET precede the clinical response, and may be of clinical value in predicting the treatment response.
Highlights
'." Macmillan Press Ltd., 1993 Macmillan Press Ltd., Carbon-11-methionine and Positron emission tomography (PET) in evaluation of treatment response of breast cancer
Positron emission tomography (PET) has opened a totally new approach in evaluating metabolical changes in cancer tissue caused by chemotherapy or radiotherapy in vivo
Using a glucose analogue '8F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) and PET imaging may be a valuable method in predicting treatment response in head and neck cancer (Minn et al, 1988), breast cancer (Minn & Soini, 1989) and lung cancer (Abe et al, 1990)
Summary
'." Macmillan Press Ltd., 1993 Macmillan Press Ltd., Carbon-11-methionine and PET in evaluation of treatment response of breast cancer. Positron emission tomography (PET) has opened a totally new approach in evaluating metabolical changes in cancer tissue caused by chemotherapy or radiotherapy in vivo. Methionine is necessary in cancer cells for increased protein and polyamine synthesis and in transmethylation reactions This essential amino acid has a central role in the altered metabolism of malignant cells (Hoffman, 1990). The amino acid metabolism of cancer tissue can be studied in vivo by measuring uptake of "C-methionine by PET. We studied the uptake of "C-methionine in breast cancer metastases to find out whether the change in the uptake during cancer therapy could predict the clinical response to treatment
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