Using fluorodeoxythymidine to monitor anti-EGFR inhibitor therapy in squamous cell carcinoma xenografts.

Background: 3'-18F-fluoro-3'-deoxy-fluorothymidine (18F-FLT), a nucleoside analog, could monitor effects of molecularly targeted therapeutics on tumor proliferation.

Methods: We tested whether (18)F-FLT positron emission tomography (PET) uptake changes are associated with antitumor effects of erlotinib in A431 xenografts or cetuximab in SCC1 xenografts.

Results: Compared with pretreatment FLT PET scans, 3 days of erlotinib in A431 reduced the standardized uptake value (SUV) by 18%, whereas placebo increased SUV by 1% (p = .

Synthesis and evaluation of 99mTc(CO)(3)-DTPA-folate as a folate-receptor-targeted radiopharmaceutical.

A folate-receptor-targeted 99mTc-radiopharmaceutical, [99mTc]Tc(CO)(3)DTPA-folate, was prepared by heating [99mTc]Tc(CO)(3)(H(2)O)(3)(+) in an aqueous solution of the previously reported DTPA-folate conjugate. The radiotracer was HPLC purified (> 98% radiochemical purity) and evaluated in vitro and in vivo as an agent for targeting folate-receptor-positive cells. [99mTc]Tc(CO)(3)DTPA-folate experienced high, folate-receptor-specific uptake in human KB tumor cells.