Positron Emission Tomography with Fibroblast Activation Protein-Targeted Radiopharmaceuticals in Primary Hepatic Tumors: A Systematic Review
Source abstract
Abstract
Background: This systematic review was performed to investigate the potential diagnostic role of fibroblast activation protein (FAP)-targeted radiopharmaceuticals in hepatocarcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Methods: Relevant studies published between 2019 and 2023 were selected by searching PubMed and Scopus. The following data were extracted: authors, radiopharmaceuticals, sample size, country and year of publication, study design, and main results. Selected studies were analyzed using a modified version of the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP). Results: A total of 15 papers were finally selected, where 5 (33%) were retrospective, and 10 (67%) were prospective, with an overall number of 331 involved patients. Most of the studies (14/15, 93%) employed the FAP inhibitor series (FAPI), while only one research study used cyclic peptides as FAP-binding motifs. Twelve papers (80%) compared these FAP-targeted radiopharmaceuticals with 18F-FDG. The other 3/15 (20%) were not comparative studies and used exclusively 68Ga-FAPI-04. 68Ga-FAPI-04 is the most used radiopharmaceutical in analyzed studies (11/15, 73%), while other tracers, including 18F-FAPI, 68Ga-FAPI-46, and 68Ga-FAP-2286, were used in the remaining ones. Conclusions: FAP-targeted radiopharmaceuticals have good diagnostic accuracy in HCC and CCA, with potential and promising theragnostic applications.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Advances · Peptidase Inhibition and Analysis · Lung Cancer Research Studies
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Department of Radiological Sciences, Oncology and Anatomo Pathology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00151 Rome, Italy
Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Section of Nuclear Medicine and Health Physics, Department of Medicine and Surgery, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Piazza Lucio Severi 1, 06132 Perugia, Italy
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