Correlation of Glut-1, Glut-3 and HK-II expression with 18F-FDG uptake in non-small cell lung cancer and pulmonary inflammatory lesions

Abstract

Objective To analyze the expression of glucose transport protein (Glut)-1, Glut-3 and hexokinase (HK)-Ⅱ in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) lesions and pulmonary inflammatory lesions and discuss the correlation of them with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake. Methods Twenty-four patients with NSCLC and 22 patients with pulmonary inflammatory lesions (25 males, 21 females; age range: 37-81 years) who underwent PET/CT from November 2012 to May 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients had surgery and were confirmed by pathology. The expression of Glut-1, Glut-3 and HK-Ⅱ in the lesions was detected by immunohistochemistry. Immunohistochemical staining scores and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) were calculated. One-way analysis of variance, the least significant difference t test, two-sample t test and Spearman correlation analysis were used. Results The SUVmax of NSCLC lesions was 8.71±7.62, higher than that of pulmonary inflammatory lesions (3.29±2.16; t=3.220, P 0.05), but the expression of Glut-3 was higher than that of Glut-1 and HK-Ⅱ (F=4.123, t values: 0.970, 0.150, all P<0.05) in pulmonary inflammatory lesions. Conclusions The expression of Glut-1, Glut-3 and HK-Ⅱ is higher in NSCLC lesions than that in pulmonary inflammatory lesions. Glut-1 and HK-Ⅱ are the important factors for 18F-FDG uptake in NSCLC. Glut-3 may play an important role in 18F-FDG uptake in pulmonary inflammatory lesions. Key words: Carcinoma, non-small-cell lung; Glucose transport proteins, facilitative; Hexokinase; Positron-emission tomography; Tomography, X-ray computed; Deoxyglucose