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| 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT in patients reflecting 15 different tumor entities. Image Credit: Kratochwil, Flechhsig, Lindner, et al |
The agent called 68Ga-FPI is used in positron emission tomography/computed tomography or PET/CT and targets cancer-associated fibroblasts and is taken up by a wide variety of tumors in very high amounts, making them clearly stand out on an image study.
With a more complete picture of how the tumor has spread and where, allows physicians to better characterize and stage the cancer, and direct such therapies as radiation and proton therapy.
The fibroblast can contribute up to 90 percent of a tumor’s mass. Cancer-associated fibroblasts differ from normal tissue fibroblasts with the production of a protein called fibroblast activation protein, or FAP. In the study researchers used PET/CT to image 80 patients with 28 different kinds of cancer, aiming to quantify the uptake of 68Ga-FAPI in primary, metastatic or recurring cancers.
All the patients were referred for the experimental diagnostics by their treating oncologists because they were facing an unmet diagnostic challenge that could not be solved sufficiently with standard methods. The patients underwent PET/CT scans an hour after injection with 68Ga0FAPI. The uptake of the tracer was measured for different types of tumors.
The highest uptake was in sarcoma, esophageal, breast, cholangiocarcinoma and lung cancer. The lowest uptake occurred in pehochromoycytoma, kidney cancer, thyroid, adenoid cystic and gastric cancers. The uptake in liver, colorectal, head-neck, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate cancers was judged intermediate.
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