Comparison of 99mTc-Tetrofosmin and 99mTc-Sestamibi Uptake in Glioma Cell Lines: The Role of P-Glycoprotein Expression

Tc-Tetrofosmin (Tc-TF) and Tc-Sestamibi (Tc-MIBI) are SPECT tracers that have been used for brain tumor imaging. Tumor’s multidrug resistance phenotype, namely, P-glycoprotein (p-gp), and the multidrug resistance related proteins (MRPs) expression have been suggested to influence both tracers’ uptake. In the present study we set out to compare Tc-MIBI uptake in high-grade glioma cell lines and to investigate the influence of gliomas p-gp expression on both tracers’ uptake. We used four glioma cell lines (U251MG, A172, U87MG, and T98G). The expression of p-gp protein was evaluated by flow cytometry. Twenty μCi (7.4·105 Bq) of Tc-TF and Tc-MIBI were used. The radioactivity in the cellular lysate was measured with a dose calibrator. P-gp was significantly expressed only in the U251MG cell line (). In all gliomas cell lines (U251MG, U87MG, A172, and T98G) the Tc-TF uptake was significantly higher than Tc-sestamibi. The U251MG cell line, in which significant p-gp expression was documented, exhibited the strongest uptake difference. Tc-TF uptake was higher than Tc-MIBI in all studied high-grade glioma cell lines. Thus, Tc-TF may be superior to Tc-MIBI for glioma imaging in vivo.