JianFei Guo MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Kotaro Higashi, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Tomoko Takahashi, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Manabu Oguchi MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Hisao Tonami MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Itaru Yamamoto, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Tumor angiogenesis mediated by VEGF/Ang-2 may be an appropriate target for antiangiogenic therapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), there will be an urgent need for noninvasively assessing and monitoring treatment response and patient selection. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the prognostic value of tumor angiogenesis mediated by VEGF/Ang-2 in NSCLC and the correlation with FDG uptake to determine if FDG-PET imaging can be applied in assessing antiangiogenic therapy in the future.

Fifty-four patients with NSCLC underwent FDG PET before operation. FDG-PET measurements were performed 40 minutes after intravenous injection of approximately 185 MBq FDG on a dedicated PET scanner. Immunohistochemical staining of the paraffin sections was performed using a monoclonal antibody to VEGF and Ang2, respectively. Using realtime reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method, we further analyzed the mRNA level of Ang2 in NSCLC.The Kaplan-Meier survival method was used to calculate survival rates, and the log-rank test was used to compare groups with respect to survival.

FDG uptake significantly correlated with VEGF (P=0.02), Ang-2 (P=0.002) expression, higher FDG uptake usually means higher VEGF and Ang2 expression. The patients with low VEGF (P=0.01, P=0.02), low Ang-2 expression (P<0.001, P=0.005) or SUV≤5 (P<0.0001, P=0.0005) had a significantly better disease-free and overall survival probabilities than the others. In comparison with the others, the patients with both of high VEGF and high Ang-2 expression had the worst prognosis. The mRNA level of Ang-2 also significantly correlated with FDG uptake (P=0.001), and also is a good indicator of prognosis, P value is 0.001 for disease-free survival analysis and 0.01 for overall survival analysis.

VEGF and Ang-2 expression were significant prognostic factors in NSCLC, and FDG uptake can predict VEGF and angiopoietin-2 expression as well as prognosis. FDG-PET may be useful for assessing and monitoring antiangiogenic therapy.

Guo, J, Higashi, K, Takahashi, T, Oguchi, M, Tonami, H, Yamamoto, I, Assessment of Tumor Angiogenesis Mediated by Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF)/Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Using FDG PET Imaging.  Radiological Society of North America 2005 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 27 - December 2, 2005 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2005/4413954.html