[18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in vitro uptake in Hodgkin Lymphoma

Measurement of FDG uptake by PET is a highly sensitive method when it is used to monitor Hodgkin lymphoma treatment. However, interpretation of the follow-up FDG PET data is sometimes difficult, and there is still the need to reduce the number of false-positive/false-negative interpretations. To elucidate the circumstances influencing the quality of FDG PET in Hodgkin lymphoma, radiotracer uptake was studied in vitro in HDLM-2 cells. For that, the cells were treated with/without etoposide, and FDG uptake was measured at different time points. The obtained data were compared with %living cells as a parameter of cytotoxicity. We found a positive correlation between FDG uptake and %living cells indicating that FDG uptake was dramatically reduced in dead cells. These preliminary results show that FDG is an accurate tumour viability marker, and that the described in vitro model is suitable for the further investigation on improving therapy monitoring with PET in Hodgkin lymphoma.