ABSTRACT
Hexakis-2-methoxyisobutylisonitrile (SestaMIBI) and 1,2-bis[bis(2-ethoxyethyl)phosphino]ethane (tetrofosmin) are 99mtechnetium compounds widely used in oncologic imaging. We investigated the uptake and release of SestaMIBI and tetrofosmin together with 99mTc-medronate in the MCF7 breast carcinoma cell line. All the tracers showed similar uptake kinetics, with a rapid increase in the first 30 minutes and a slower trend up to 120 minutes. Cell-associated activity was the same for SestaMIBI and tetrofosmin (4% of administered activity) and considerably lower for medronate (0.8%). For all tracers, almost all the accumulated activity was released within 1 hour. Furthermore, to verify an association between cell proliferation and tracer uptake, we performed growth-curve uptake experiments. Tetrofosmin uptake was lower in the logarithmic phase and higher in the plateau phase, whilst SestaMIBI showed the opposite trend. The differences between the tracers could be due to a relationship between proliferation and SestaMIBI uptake, or even to the influence of medium pH on membrane potential.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms/metabolism , Organophosphorus Compounds/pharmacokinetics , Organotechnetium Compounds/pharmacokinetics , Technetium Tc 99m Medronate/pharmacokinetics , Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi/pharmacokinetics , Female , Humans , Tumor Cells, CulturedABSTRACT
Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) may be of interest for the prognostic evaluation and follow-up surveillance in patients with neuroblastoma. We evaluated NSE levels in 80 patients with neuroblastoma. The marker correlated with stage (in stage 1 patients, the median NSE level was 9.9 ng/ml, in stage 2, 45.1 ng/ml, in stage 3, 49 ng/ml, in stage 4, 93.9 ng/ml, in stage 4S, 53.4 ng/ml) and with survival. In patients with a favorable or a poor outcome, the difference in basal NSE serum levels was statistically significant (p = 0.0001). Serial measurements revealed that there was a good correlation between NSE levels and disease course. We concluded that NSE is a good marker for neuroblastoma and its quantitative determination in serum is valuable in the management of these patients to confirm the diagnosis, monitor the effect of treatment and detect recurrent disease.
