THERAPY RESPONSE IN NUCLEAR MEDICINE
Guest Editor: Bombardieri E. 

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine 2003 March;47(1):46-50

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

MIBI as prognostic factor in breast cancer

Del Vecchio S. ¹, Zannetti A. ¹, Aloj L. ¹, Salvatore M. ²

¹ Center for Nuclear Medicine, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche “Federico II” University, Naples, Italy 2 Department of Biomorphological and Functional Sciences “Federico II” University, Naples, Italy

Eval­u­a­tion of treat­ment ­response is of pri­mary impor­tance in the man­age­ment of ­patients ­with ­cancer. ­Both posi­tron- and ­γ-emit­ting com­pounds ­have ­been ­used to mon­itor ­changes in ­tumor metab­olism or ­viability ­after ­therapy. The use of 99mTc-­labeled lip­o­philic cat­ions ­raised the pos­sibility to pre­dict the ­tumor ­response to treat­ment and to iden­tify ­patients who ­will ­become refrac­tory to sub­se­quent ­therapy. In par­tic­ular, ­many ­studies ­have ­shown the prog­nostic ­value of 99mTc-­MIBI ­scan in dif­ferent ­types of malig­nancy ­including ­breast and ­lung ­cancer, lym­phoma and sar­coma. The ­ability of 99mTc-­MIBI to ­interact ­with P-gly­co­pro­tein, ­allowing the func­tional assess­ment of the mul­ti­drug ­resistant phe­no­type, is one of the mech­a­nisms under­lying its prog­nostic ­value. Addi­tional mech­a­nisms of ­cell resis­tance, ­mainly ­involving alter­a­tions of apop­tosis, may ­affect 99mTc-­MIBI ­uptake in ­tumors. There­fore, ­either an ­enhanced ­tracer clear­ance or a ­reduced ­early ­uptake of 99mTc-­MIBI indi­cate a ­poor ­response to ­therapy. In ­both ­cases, 99mTc-­MIBI ­scan may ­ensure ­that the fur­ther man­age­ment ­strategy ­will be effec­tive in indi­vidual ­cancer ­patients.