[18F]5-fluoro-2-deoxyuridine-PET for imaging of malignant tumors and for measuring tissue proliferation.

The nucleoside 5-fluoro-2-deoxyuridine is a pyrimidine analogue accumulating in proliferative cells. We prospectively evaluated biodistribution of the PET tracer [(18)F]5-fluoro-2-deoxyuridine (FdUrd), its value for imaging malignant tumors, and its correlation to both [(18)F]2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG)-PET findings and histological proliferation indices. In 11 previously untreated patients (5 lung carcinoma; 3 soft tissue sarcoma; 2 gastrointestinal carcinoma; 1 non-Hodgkin lymphoma [NHL]), mean doses of 290 MBq FdUrd and 390 MBq FDG were administered intravenously on subsequent days.

3'-[18F]fluoro-3'-deoxythymidine ([18F]-FLT) as positron emission tomography tracer for imaging proliferation in a murine B-Cell lymphoma model and in the human disease.

Here we describe the evaluation of 3'-[(18)F]fluoro-3'-deoxythymidine [[(18)F]-FLT] as a tracer for positron emission tomography (PET) in a murine model of B-cell lymphoma and in human malignant lymphoma. The human B-cell line DoHH2 expressed high levels of active thymidine kinase 1 (TK-1) as the key enzyme of [(18)F]-FLT metabolism. Immunostaining confirmed high levels of TK-1 in DoHH2 derived xenograft tumors in SCID/SCID mice.