RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Positron emission tomography of human hepatocellular carcinoma xenografts in mice using copper-64 chlorides
JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine
JO J Nucl Med
FD Society of Nuclear Medicine
SP 1588
OP 1588
VO 50
IS supplement 2
A1 Fangyu Peng
A1 Xin Lu
A1 O Muzik
YR 2009
UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/50/supplement_2/1588.abstract
AB 1588 Objectives To image human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) xenografts in athymic mice with positron emission tomography using copper (II)-64 chloride (64CuCl2) as a radioactive tracer (Cu-64 PET). Methods The HCC xenografts were established by injection of Hep3-B human HCC cells subcutaneously in the flanks. The tumor-bearing mice were subjected to dynamic PET imaging analysis immediately following intravenous administration of the tracer 64CuCl2 using a Concorde microPET R4 tomograph. Dynamic imaging was followed by static whole body imaging at 1and 24 hours post injection, respectively. Upon completion of the imaging study, the mice were euthanized and the postmortem tissues were harvested, weighted and counted for radioactivity using a gamma counter. Using a polyclonal antibody specific for human copper transporter 1 (hCtr1), immunohistochemistry analysis were performed to evaluate expression of hCtr1in the xenograft tumor tissues. Results Dynamic imaging demonstrated rapid uptake of 64CuCl2 by the HCC xenografts in mice. The HCC xenografts were visualized on the Cu-64 PET images, with better target to background ratio from the images obtained 24 hours post injection compared with the images obtained at 1 hour post injection, along with high level expression of hCtr1 in the tumor tissues. Conclusions The HCC xenografts were well visualized by PET using 64CuCl2 as a probe. This suggests that extrahepatic HCC metastasis in humans may be localized non-invasively by PET using 64CuCl2 as a probe.