18F-Fluoromisonidazole positron emission tomography (FMISO-PET) may reflect hypoxia and cell proliferation activity in oral squamous cell carcinoma

• Published in: Oral surgery, oral medicine, oral pathology and oral radiology oral medicine, oral pathology and oral radiology, 2017-09, Vol.124 (3), p.261-270
• Main Authors: Sato, Jun, Kitagawa, Yoshimasa, Watanabe, Shiro, Asaka, Takuya, Ohga, Noritaka, Hirata, Kenji, Okamoto, Shozo, Shiga, Tohru, Shindoh, Masanobu, Kuge, Yuji, Tamaki, Nagara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dentistry
• ISSN: 2212-4403; 2212-4411
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oooo.2017.05.506

Hypoxia is a common feature and prognostic factor in cancer. 18F-fluoromisonidazole (FMISO) positron emission tomography (PET) can detect tumor hypoxia noninvasively. The aim of this study was to assess the correlations between FMISO-PET and 18 F-fluorodexyglucose (FDG)-PET parameters with cell proliferation and hypoxia in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Twenty-three preoperative patients with OSCC were included. The tumor/muscle ratio (TMR) of FMISO-PET, the maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) of FDG-PET, metabolic tumor volume, and total lesion glycolysis were measured. Ki-67 and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) expression was immunohistochemically evaluated. FMISO TMR (P = .003) and FDG SUVmax (P = .04) were significantly higher in patients with high expression of Ki-67 compared with those with low expression of Ki-67. FMISO TMR (P = .006) and FDG SUVmax (P = .01) were also significantly higher in patients with HIF-1α expression than in those without HIF-1α expression. Metabolic tumor volume was not significantly related to either Ki-67 or HIF-1α expression. Multivariate analysis showed that FMISO TMR was independently predictive of Ki-67 (P = .002; odds ratio 31.1) and HIF-1α (P = .049; odds ratio 10.5) expression. FMISO-PET showed significant relationships with Ki-67 and HIF-1α expression, which are key features of cell proliferation and hypoxia in OSCC.