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ABSTRACT
Background. There is an exciting complementarity between the spatial resolution provided by molecular imaging of a single, often unspecific, biomarker on one hand and the more detailed biological profile achievable from a diagnostic biopsy using a panel of immunohistochemical (IHC) markers on the other. A number of previous studies have shown a relationship between glucose transport protein expression and 18F-Fludeoxyglucose (FDG) PET uptake. Here, FDG uptake is analyzed in relation to expression of a selected panel of IHC cancer biomarkers in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC).
Material and methods. IHC staining for Bcl-2, β-tubulin-1 and 2, p53, EGFR, Ki-67, glutathione-S-transferase-π and p16 was performed on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded diagnostic biopsies from 102 HNSCC cases treated at Rigshospitalet during 2005–2009. The proportion of positive cells was used for analyses, except p16, which was scored according to EORTC guidelines. In all cases, maximal FDG standardized uptake value (SUV) metrics were extracted for the primary tumor, TSUVmax. Univariate linear regression and multiple linear regression of TSUVmax versus IHC markers were performed.
Results. In univariate analyses, TSUVmax showed negative associations with Bcl-2 (p = 0.002) and p16 (p = 0.005) indices and positive association with β-tubulin-1 index (p = 0.003). On multivariate analysis, TSUVmax remained associated with β-tubulin-1 (p = 0.009), Bcl-2 (p = 0.03) and p16 (p = 0.03). All correlations had r-squared < 0.3.
Conclusion. Statistically significant correlations were observed between the expression of IHC biomarkers and maximum FDG uptake in the primary tumor.
Acknowledgements
Histotechnician Pernille Frederiksen, Department of Pathology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen and histotechnicians accredited by the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Kimberly Tuttle and Loretta Kendall, Dept. of Pathology, UMSOM, for their help in creating the TMAs and performing the IHC.
Residency/Fellowship Program Coordinator Kathleen Warfield, Department of Pathology, UMSOM, Department of Pathology, RH, Copenhagen, Denmark and Department of Pathology, UMSOM, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
The work was supported by grants from “Global Excellence” from the Capital Region of Denmark, Kirsten and Freddy Johansen's Foundation, Aase and Ejnar Danielsen's Foundation, the Danish Cancer Research Foundation (Dansk Kræftforskningsfond) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) grant no: P30 CA 134274-04. Jacob H. Rasmussen is supported by the Arvid Nilsson's Foundation.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.
Supplementary material available online
Supplementary Figure 1 and Table I to be found online at http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/0284186X.2015.1062539.