Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Nov 13;14(22):5566.
doi: 10.3390/cancers14225566.

Performance and Prospects of [68Ga]Ga-FAPI PET/CT Scans in Lung Cancer

Paula E Borgonje  1 , Louise M Andrews  1 , Gerarda J M Herder  2 , John M H de Klerk  3
Affiliations
Review

Performance and Prospects of [68Ga]Ga-FAPI PET/CT Scans in Lung Cancer

Paula E Borgonje et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) could be a promising target for tumor imaging and therapy, as it is expressed in >90% of epithelial cancers. A high level of FAP-expression might be associated with worse prognosis in several cancer types, including lung cancer. FAPI binds this protein and allows for labelling to Gallium-68, as well as several therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. As FAP is only expressed at insignificant levels in adult normal tissue, FAPI provides a highly specific tumor-marker for many epithelial cancers. In this review, current information on the use of [68Ga]Ga-FAPI PET/CT in lung cancer is presented. [68Ga]Ga-FAPI shows a high uptake (standardized uptake value = SUVmax) and tumor-to-background ratio (TBR) in primary lung cancer lesions, as well as in metastatic lesions of other tumor types located in the lung and in lung cancer metastases located throughout the body. Where a comparison was made to [18F]FDG PET/CT, [68Ga]Ga-FAPI showed a similar or higher SUVmax and TBR. In brain and bone metastases, [68Ga]Ga-FAPI PET/CT outperformed [18F]FDG PET/CT. In addition to this strong diagnostic performance, a possible prognostic value of [68Ga]Ga-FAPI PET/CT in lung cancer is proposed.

Keywords: CAF; FAPI; PET/CT; [68Ga]Ga-FAPI; fibroblast activation protein; lung cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure of FAPI subtypes used in clinical practice [11].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. European Union ECIS—European Cancer Information System. European Commission 2020. [(accessed on 30 September 2022)]. Available online: https://ecis.jrc.ec.europa.eu.
    1. Telo S., Calderoni L., Vichi S., Zagni F., Castellucci P., Fanti S. Alternative and New Radiopharmaceutical Agents for Lung Cancer. Curr. Radiopharm. 2020;13:185–194. doi: 10.2174/1874471013666191223151402. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Roma-Rodrigues C., Mendes R., Baptista P.V., Fernandes A.R. Targeting Tumor Microenvironment for Cancer Therapy. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019;20:840. doi: 10.3390/ijms20040840. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baghban R., Roshangar L., Jahanban-Esfahlan R., Seidi K., Ebrahimi-Kalan A., Jaymand M., Kolahian S., Javaheri T., Zare P. Tumor microenvironment complexity and therapeutic implications at a glance. Cell Commun. Signal. 2020;18:59. doi: 10.1186/s12964-020-0530-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lindner T., Loktev A., Giesel F., Kratochwil C., Altmann A., Haberkorn U. Targeting of activated fibroblasts for imaging and therapy. EJNMMI Radiopharm. Chem. 2019;4:16. doi: 10.1186/s41181-019-0069-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed