Expression of Glut-1 and Glut-3 in untreated oral squamous cell carcinoma compared with FDG accumulation in a PET study

Abstract

Increased expression of glucose transporter-1 (Glut-1) and glucose transporter-3 (Glut-3) has been reported in many human cancers. The mechanism of glucose entry into oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remains unclear. In this study we investigated, in untreated human OSCC, the relationship between tumour fluorine-18 fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) accumulation and the expression of Glut-1 and Glut-3, as well as the association between the expression of Glut-1 and of Glut-3. All patients underwent FDG positron emission tomography (PET) pre-operatively. Standardised uptake values (SUVs) were used for evaluation of tumour FDG uptake. Final diagnoses were established by histology. Immunohistochemical staining results were evaluated according to the percentage (%) of positive area, intensity and staining score. Tumour sections were stained by immunohistochemistry for Glut-1 and Glut-3. Glut-1 immunostaining revealed that 18 (94.7%) of the 19 tumours stained positively, while Glut-3 immunostaining yielded positive findings for 16 (84.2%) tumours. Overall, a relatively low level of agreement (36.8%) in the staining score was observed between Glut-1 and Glut-3 expression. No relationship was found between the staining pattern and tumour differentiation or T grade classification in either Glut-1 or Glut-3 immunostaining. Furthermore, no relationship was found between increased FDG SUV and tumour differentiation, but the former did correlate with T grade. In conclusion, high FDG uptake values were seen in OSCC with overexpression of Glut-1 and Glut-3. However, no significant correlation was found between FDG SUV and Glut-1 or Glut-3 expression.

Biological correlation between glucose transporters, Ki-67 and 2-deoxy-2-[18F]-fluoro-D-glucose uptake in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and natural killer/T-cell lymphoma

“…GLUT 3 is a neuron-specific subtype of the GLUT family and has been demonstrated to play an important role in 18 F-FDG uptake in cancers of the nervous system, lymphoma and thyroid cancer (Tian et al, 2004;Shim et al, 2009;Hirose et al, 2014). Our results were consistent with the above studies, and we can infer that GLUT 1 and GLUT 3 have considerable impact on intracellular 18 F-FDG uptake in DLBCL and NKTCL.…”

Glucose Transporter-1 Expression in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Tongue

“…These findings are consistent with previous reports about the prognostic value of the Glut-1 expression for oral squamous cell carcinoma (4,7). Oral squamous cell carcinoma with the overexpression of Glut-1 has demonstrated high fluorine-18 fluoro-2 deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) uptake, although there was no proven correlation between FDG SUV and the Glut-1 expression (8). Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has been used to identify aggressive tumors by assessing the tumor's glucose metabolism; therefore, the clinical relevance of the Glut-1 expression as a prognostic marker may be important.…”

Preclinical and Clinical Evidence that Deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose Positron Emission Tomography with Computed Tomography Is a Reliable Tool for the Detection of Early Molecular Responses to Erlotinib in Head and Neck Cancer

“…Until now, in HNSCC, there are no reports showing a decrease in Glut-1 by EGFR-TKI. Elsewhere, there are studies reporting that there are no significant correlations between 18 FDG accumulation and Glut-1 expression in HNSCC (23,24). These findings suggest that 18 FDG-PET does not underestimate the residual disease after HNSCC and δBV = −27.3%).…”