The success of tumor imaging with PET and 2-deoxy-2-fluoro[18F]-D-glucose (18FDG) is based on preferential accumulation of 18FDG in tumors.
Methods: Fluorine-18-FDG uptake was measured in nine human cancers heterotransplanted in nude mice and compared with histologic subclassification.
Results: Mean 18FDG uptake by the human cancers was considerably less than that by the host's heart, but values at 60 min after injection were about 2.5 times as high as the liver and kidney, about two times as that for the muscle and about six times that for the blood. Comparison of 18FDG uptake and histological grade in four gastric, two pancreatic and three colonic cancers showed that 18FDG uptake increased with loss of differentiation.
Conclusion: This nude mice model system is useful for studying correlations between physiological and morphological parameters of heterotransplanted human cancers.