Intertumoral differences in hypoxia selectivity of the PET imaging agent 64Cu(II)-diacetyl-bis(N4-methylthiosemicarbazone).

Abstract

To our knowledge, this study is the first comparison between (64)Cu-ATSM uptake and immunohistochemistry in these 3 tumors. Although we have shown that (64)Cu-ATSM is a valid PET hypoxia marker in some tumor types, but not for all, this tumor type-dependent hypoxia selectivity of (64)Cu-ATSM challenges the use of (64)Cu-ATSM as a universal PET hypoxia marker. Further studies are needed to define retention mechanisms for this PET marker.