Immunohistochemical expression of VEGFR1 in non small cell lung carcinomas: Lower VEGFR1 expression is asociated with squamous cell carcinoma subtype and high max SUV values in 18F-FDG PET

M C Pombo Pasín; V Pubul Nuñez; L García Bernardo; F Gude Sampedro; I Abdulkader-Nallib; A Ruibal Morell

doi:10.1016/j.remn.2020.08.013

Immunohistochemical expression of VEGFR1 in non small cell lung carcinomas: Lower VEGFR1 expression is asociated with squamous cell carcinoma subtype and high max SUV values in ¹⁸F-FDG PET

Rev Esp Med Nucl Imagen Mol (Engl Ed). 2021 May 14:S2253-654X(20)30169-4. doi: 10.1016/j.remn.2020.08.013. Online ahead of print.

[Article in English, Spanish]

Authors

M C Pombo Pasín¹, V Pubul Nuñez², L García Bernardo², F Gude Sampedro³, I Abdulkader-Nallib⁴, A Ruibal Morell⁵

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Medicina Nuclear, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, España. Electronic address: MACarmen.pombo.pasin@sergas.es.
² Departamento de Medicina Nuclear, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, España.
³ Unidad de Epidemiología Clínica, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, España.
⁴ Departamento de Patología, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, España.
⁵ Departamento de Medicina Nuclear, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, España; Grupo de Imagen Molecular USC- IDIS, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, España; Fundación Tejerina, Madrid, España.

PMID: 33994329
DOI: 10.1016/j.remn.2020.08.013

Abstract

Background: To study the possible relation between immunohistochemical expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1) and the maximum standardised uptake value (maxSUV) of ¹⁸F-FDG PET in patients with non small cell lung cancer.

Material and methods: The study included 39 patients with NSCLC (24 squamous cell carcinomas and 15 adenocarcinomas). According to the clinical stage, the patients were distributed as follows: 8 stage I, 7 stage II, 15 stage III and 9 stage IV. Immunohistochemical expression of VEGFR1 was studied through the technique of tissue-matrix using tissue arrayer device (Beecher Instruments, Sun Prairie, WI), using the polyclonal antibody against VEGFR1 (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, California, USA).

Results: Positive VEGFR1 immunohistochemical expression was noted in 23 cases (59%). The number of positive tumours was not related with clinical stage but there was a different statistically significant association (p:.0009) between VEGFR1 positivity and histological type, corresponding the greater percentages of positive results to adenocarcinomas (93.3%) versus in squamous cell carcinomas (37.5%). Likewise, maxSUV values were higher (p: .039) in negative VEGFR1 carcinomas than in positive VEGFR1 tumors (r: 4-32.1; 16.4+/-6.4 [median 16.1] vs. r: 3-47; 14.5+/-8.6 [12.8]).

Conclusions: Our results led us to consider that in NSCLC, the negative VEGFR1 immunohistochemical expression is associated significantly with squamous cell carcinomas subtype and with higher maxSUV values in ¹⁸F-FDG-PET.

Keywords: Carcinomas de células no pequeñas; Non-small cell carcinomas; SUV(máx)-(18)F-FDG-PET; VEGFR1; maxSUV-(18)F-FDG-PET.