The recent development of quinoline-based PET tracers that act as fibroblast-activation-protein inhibitors (FAPIs) demonstrated promising preclinical and clinical results. FAP is overexpressed by cancer-associated fibroblasts of several tumor entities. Here, we quantify the tumor uptake on 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT of various primary and metastatic tumors to identify the most promising indications for future application. Methods: 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT scans were requested by various referring physicians according to individual clinical indications that were considered insufficiently covered by 18 F-FDG PET/CT or other imaging modalities. All PET/CT was performed 1 h after injection of 122-312 MBq of 68 Ga-FAPI-04. We retrospectively identified 80 patients with histopathologically proven primary tumors or metastases or radiologically unequivocal metastatic lesions of histologically proven primary tumors. Tumor uptake was quantified by SUV max and SUV mean (60% isocontour). Results: Eighty patients with 28 different tumor entities (54 primary tumors and 229 metastases) were evaluated. The highest average SUV max (.12) was found in sarcoma, esophageal, breast, cholangiocarcinoma, and lung cancer. The lowest 68 Ga-FAPI uptake (average SUV max , 6) was observed in pheochromocytoma, renal cell, differentiated thyroid, adenoid cystic, and gastric cancer. The average SUV max of hepatocellular, colorectal, head-neck, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate cancer was intermediate . SUV varied across and within all tumor entities. Because of low background in muscle and blood pool (SUV max , 2), the tumor-to-background contrast ratios were more than 3-fold in the intermediate and more than 6fold in the high-intensity uptake group. Conclusion: Several highly prevalent cancers presented with remarkably high uptake and image contrast on 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT. The high and rather selective tumor uptake may open up new applications for noninvasive tumor characterization, staging examinations, or radioligand therapy. ://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/60/6/801 This article and updated information are available at: http://jnm.snmjournals.org/site/subscriptions/online.xhtml Information about subscriptions to JNM can be found at: http://jnm.snmjournals.org/site/misc/permission.xhtml

Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is overexpressed in cancer associated fibroblasts of several tumor entities. Recent development of quinoline based positron-emission-tomography (PET)-tracers that act as FAP-Inhibitors (FAPI) demonstrated promising results preclinically and already also in few clinical cases. Consecutively this novel tracer is now applied in our hospital to amend the diagnostics of cancer patients facing limitations of standard exams. Here we analyze the tissue biodistribution and preliminary dosimetry of two members of this new class of PET-radiopharmaceuticals. A preliminary dosimetry estimate for FAPI-02 and FAPI-04 was based on two patients examined at 0.2h, 1h and 3h after tracer injection using the QDOSE dosimetry software suit. Further PET/CT scans of tumor patients were acquired 1 h after injection of either FAPI-02 ( = 25) or FAPI-04 ( = 25); for 6 patients an intra-individual related FDG-scan (also acquired 1h p.i.) was available. For the normal tissue of 16 organs, a 2 cm Spheric-VOI was placed in the parenchyma, for tumor lesions a threshold segmented VOI was used to quantify SUVmean/max. Very similar to literature values forF-FDG, Ga-DOTATATE orGa-PSMA-11, an exam with 200 MBq Ga-FAPI-2/4 corresponds to an equivalent dose of approx. 3-4 mSv. After a fast clearance via the kidneys the normal organs showed a low tracer uptake with only minimal changes between 10 min and 3 h p.i.. In FAPI-02 the tumor uptake from 1h to 3h p.i. decreased by 75%, whereas the tumor retention was prolonged with FAPI-04 (25% washout). Regarding tumor-to-background ratios, at 1h p.i. both FAPI-tracers performed equally. In comparison to FDG the tumor uptake was almost equal (average SUV-FDG 7.41; SUV-FAPI-2 7.37; n.s.); the background uptake in brain (11.01 vs 0.32), liver (2.77 vs 1.69) and oral/pharyngeal mucosa (4.88 vs 2.57) was significantly lower with FAPI; other organs were not relevantly different between FDG and FAPI. FAPI-PET/CT is a new diagnostic method in imaging cancer patients. In contrast to FDG no diet/fasting in preparation of the exam is necessary and image acquisition can potentially be started few minutes after tracer application. Tumor-to-background contrast ratios were equal or even improved in comparison to FDG.

Recently, prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) targeted PET-imaging has emerged as new method of staging and restaging of prostate cancer. Most published studies have investigated the diagnostic potential of Ga-labeled PSMA-agents which are excreted renally. [F]PSMA-1007 is a novel PSMA-ligand with excellent preclinical characteristics which is only minimally excreted by the urinary tract, a potential advantage for pelvic imaging. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic efficacy of [F]PSMA-1007 in biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy (RP). 251 patients from three academic centers with BCR after radical prostatectomy were evaluated in a retrospective analysis. Patients who had received second line androgen deprivation therapy and/or chemotherapy were excluded, however prior first line ADT exposure was allowed. The median PSA-level was 1.2 ng/ml (range: 0.2-228 ng/mL). All patients underwent a PSMA-PET/CT after injection of 301±46 MBq [F]PSMA-1007 at 92±26 min post injection. The detection rate of presumed recurrence sites was correlated with PSA-level and original primary Gleason score. A comparison to a subset of patients treated previously with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) was undertaken. 204 of 251 patients (81.3%) patients had evidence of recurrence on [F]PSMA-1007 PET/CT. The detection rates were 94.1% (79/84), 90.1% (50/55), 74.5% (35/47) and 61.5% (40/65) for PSA-levels of ≥2, 1-<2, 0.5-<1 and 0.2-<0.5ng/mL, respectively. [F]PSMA-1007 PET/CT revealed local recurrence in 43.7% (62) of patients. Lymph node metastases were present in the pelvis in 40.6% (102), in the retroperitoneum in 19.5% (49) and in supradiaphragmatic locations in 12.0% (30) of patients. Bone and visceral metastases were detected in 40.2% (101) and 3.6% (9) patients. In higher Gleason score tumors (≤7vs.≥8) detection efficacy trended higher (76.3% vs. 86.7%) but was not statistically significant ( = 0.32). However, detection efficacy was higher in patients who had previously been on ADT (91.7% vs. 78.0%) within 6 months prior to imaging ( = 0.0179). [F]PSMA-1007 PET/CT offers high detection rates in BCR after radical prostatectomy which is comparable to or better than that published for Ga-labelled PSMA-ligands.

Ga-FAPI-2/4/46 have already been proposed as promising PET-tracers. However, the short half-life of 68 Ga (T1/2 68 min) creates problems with manufacture and delivery. 18 F (T1/2 110 min) labeling would result in a more practical large scale production and a cold-kit formulation would improve the spontaneous availability. The NOTA-chelator ligand FAPI-74 can be labeled with both 18 F-AlF (Aluminum-Fluoride) and 68 Ga. Here we describe the in-vivo evaluation of 18 F-FAPI-74 and a proof-of-mechanism of 68 Ga-FAPI-74 labeled at ambient temperature. Methods: In ten patients with lung cancer PET-scans were acquired at 10 min, 1h and 3h after administration of 259±26 MBq 18 F-FAPI-74. Physiological biodistribution and tumor uptake were semi-quantitatively evaluated based on SUV at each time-point. Absorbed doses were evaluated using OLINDA/EXM 1.1 and QDOSE dosimetry software with the dose calculator IDAC-Dose 2.1. Identical methods were used to evaluate one exam after injection of 263 MBq 68 Ga-FAPI-74. Results: The highest contrast was achieved 1 h p.i. in primary tumors, lymph node and distant metastases with SUVmax >10, respectively. The effective dose per 100 MBq administered activity of 18 F-FAPI-74 was 1.4±0.2 mSv and for 68 Ga-FAPI-74 it was 1.6 mSv. Thus, the radiation burden of a diagnostic 18 F-FAPI-74 PET-scan is even lower than that of PET-scans with 18 F-FDG and other 18 F-tracers; 68 Ga-FAPI-74 is comparable to other 68 Ga-ligands. FAPI-PET/CT supported target volume definition for guiding radiotherapy. Conclusion: High contrast and low radiation burden of FAPI-74 PET/CT favors multiple clinical applications. Centralized large-scale production of 18 F-FAPI-74 or decentralized cold-kit labeling of 68 Ga-FAPI-74 allows flexible routine use.

Purpose: Radiotherapy is used for the treatment of lung cancer, but at the same time induces acute pneumonitis and subsequent pulmonary fibrosis, where TGF-b signaling is considered to play an important role.Experimental Design: We irradiated thoraces of C57BL/6 mice (single dose, 20 Gy) and administered them a novel small-molecule TGF-b receptor I serine/threonine kinase inhibitor (LY2109761) orally for 4 weeks before, during, or after radiation. Noninvasive lung imaging including volume computed tomography (VCT) and MRI was conducted 6, 16, and 20 weeks after irradiation and was correlated to histologic findings. Expression profiling analysis and protein analysis was conducted in human primary fibroblasts.Results: Radiation alone induced acute pulmonary inflammation and lung fibrosis after 16 weeks associated with reduced life span. VCT, MRI, and histology showed that LY2109761 markedly reduced inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis resulting in prolonged survival. Mechanistically, we found that LY2109761 reduced p-SMAD2 and p-SMAD1 expression, and transcriptomics revealed that LY2109761 suppressed expression of genes involved in canonical and noncanonical TGF-b signaling and downstream signaling of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP). LY2109761 also suppressed radiation-induced inflammatory [e.g., interleukin (IL)-6, IL-7R, IL-8] and proangiogenic genes (e.g., ID1) indicating that LY2109761 achieves its antifibrotic effect by suppressing radiation-induced proinflammatory, proangiogenic, and profibrotic signals.Conclusion: Small-molecule inhibitors of the TGF-b receptor I kinase may offer a promising approach to treat or attenuate radiation-induced lung toxicity or other diseases associated with fibrosis.

These results indicate that blocking CTGF attenuates radiation-induced pulmonary remodeling and can reverse the process after initiation. CTGF has a central role in radiation-induced fibrogenesis, and FG-3019 may benefit patients with radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis or patients with other forms or origin of chronic fibrotic diseases.

The present study demonstrates additional value of hybrid Ga-PSMA-11-PET/MRI by gaining complementary diagnostic information compared toGa-PSMA-11-PET/CT for patients with LR of PC.

Purpose Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) expressing fibroblast activation protein (FAP) have been associated with the aggressive nature of head and neck cancers (HNCs). These tumours grow diffusely, leading to extremely challenging differentiation between tumour and healthy tissue. This analysis aims to introduce a novel approach of tumour detection, contouring and targeted radiotherapy of HNCs using visualisation of CAFs: PET-CT with 68Ga-radiolabeled inhibitors of FAP (FAPI). Methods FAPI PET-CT was performed without complications prior to radiotherapy in addition to contrast enhanced CT (CE-CT) and MRI on 14 patients with HNC. First, for tissue biodistribution analysis, volumes of interest were defined to quantify SUVmean and SUVmax in tumour and healthy parenchyma. Secondly, using four thresholds of three-, five-, seven- and tenfold increase of FAPI enhancement in the tumour as compared with normal tissue, four different gross tumour volumes (FAPI-GTV) were created automatically. These were compared with GTVs created conventionally with CE-CT and MRI (CT-GTV). Results The biodistribution analysis revealed high FAPI avidity within tumorous lesions (e.g. primary tumours, SUVmax 14.62 ± 4.44; SUVmean 7.41 ± 2.39). In contrast, low background uptake was measured in healthy tissues of the head and neck region (e.g. salivary glands: SUVmax 1.76 ± 0.31; SUVmean 1.23 ± 0.28). Considering radiation planning, CT-GTV was of 27.3 ml, whereas contouring with FAPI resulted in significantly different GTVs of 67.7 ml (FAPI × 3, p = 0.0134), 22.1 ml (FAPI × 5, p = 0.0419), 7.6 ml (FAPI × 7, p = 0.0001) and 2.3 ml (FAPI × 10, p = 0.0001). Taking these significant disparities between the GTVs into consideration, we merged FAPI-GTVs with CT-GTVs. This resulted in median volumes, that were, as compared to CT-GTVs, significantly larger with FAPI × 3 (54.7 ml, + 200.5% relative increase, p = 0.0005) and FAPI × 5 (15.0 ml, + 54.9%, p = 0.0122). Furthermore, FAPI-GTVs were not covered by CE-CT-based planning target volumes (CT-PTVs) in several cases. Conclusion We present first evidence of diagnostic and therapeutic potential of FAPI ligands in head and neck cancer. Larger studies with histopathological correlation are required to validate our findings.