Uptake of FDG (2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose) as a tumor imaging agent into erythrocytes and accumulation of FDG in tumor cells

Fluorine-18-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18F-FDG) injectable was developed as a tumor imaging agent reflecting glucose metabolism. In membrane transportation studies, the uptake of 14C-FDG into erythrocytes decreased with an increase in glucose concentration, and Cytochalasin B, inhibitor of glucose transporter (GLUT), blocked the uptake about 75%. The results means FDG is transported into tumor cells mainly by GLUT as glucose analogues. 18F-FDG is recognized to be phosphorylated to 18F-FDG-6-phosphate with hexokinase. We found that FDG-6-phosphate was further isomerized to 18F-FDM-6-phosphate by phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI) in vitro. About 27% 18F-FDM-6-phosphate was generated at the reaction with 70 U PGI for 90 min. These results show that the 18F-FDG injectable manufactured by the commercial supply system has equivalent properties; membrane transportation characteristic and enzyme affinity, to FDG synthesized at each PET institution.