Evaluation of the F-18-FDG-PET/CT uptake association with pathological and immunohistochemistry features in esophagogastric adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Background The present study aimed to analyze the association between F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake and histologic panel in esophagogastric adenocarcinoma. Methods We retrospectively enrolled 26 patients with histologically confirmed esophageal, gastroesophageal junction and gastric adenocarcinoma that have been submitted to pretreatment FDG-PET/CT. We collected the cancer tissue sample of each patient and performed immunohistochemical analyses of the glucose transport protein 1 (GLUT-1), Ki-67, cysteine aspartate-specific proteinases (Caspase)-3 and hexokinase-1, and evaluated the association of these parameters with FDG uptake. The FDG uptake was measured by tumor standardized uptake value (SUV), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and Total Lesion Glycolysis (TLG). Besides, we analyzed the association of FDG uptake and tumor location, Lauren's histologic subtype, grade of cellular differentiation and intratumoral inflammatory infiltrate. Results We found a positive association between GLUT-1 with SUV and TLG, Caspase-3 and SUV and inflammation grade with SUV. Conclusion Tumor inflammation infiltrate, GLUT-1 and Caspase-3 correlated with F-18-FDG uptake in PET/CT in esophagogastric adenocarcinoma. These findings may help understand the pathologic PET/CT significance in cancer. Understanding the meaning of the F-18-FDG uptake in the field of tumor histologic and immunohistochemistry features is essential to allow the evolution of PET/CT application in esophageal and gastric carcinomas.