The Characterization of Osteolytic and Osteoblastic Lesions in a Prostate Cancer Mousemodel with the Use of 18f-fdg and 18f-fluoride Pet/ct Scans

INTRODUCTION Prostate adenocarcinoma affects millions of males annually and is associated with both osteoblastic and osteolytic metastases in bone. Murine models that grow human prostate cancer cell lines have been developed to study tumor behavior and treatment strategies. Multiple limitations exist in the use of these models to evaluate the osteolytic and osteoblastic characteristics of these tumor lines. Multiple radiographic grading systems have been published in the literature that assess osteolytic and osteoblastic activity. However, there is significant interand intraobserver variability when these lesions are measured. Furthermore, despite the inconsistency in the soft tissue measurements of tumor burden, this is often used as an endpoint for treatments. For this reason, the development of an imaging method that can quantify the characteristics of a prostate cancer lesion in vivo would be advantageous in providing an objective assessment in the evaluation of treatment outcomes. In addition, since histologic specimens would not be required, animals could be followed longitudinally throughout the study, obviating the need for animals at multiple t imepoints. The aim of our study was to evaluate the use of positron emission tomography (PET) scanning in the characterization of osteolytic and osteoblastic prostate cancer lines in a mouse model.