Technical feasibility of [(18)F]FET and [(18)F]FAZA PET guided radiotherapy in a F98 glioblastoma rat model

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma (GB) is the most common primary malignant brain tumor. Standard medical treatment consists of a maximal safe surgical resection, subsequently radiation therapy (RT) and chemotherapy with temozolomide (TMZ). An accurate definition of the tumor volume is of utmost importance for guiding RT. In this project we investigated the feasibility and treatment response of subvolume boosting to a PET-defined tumor part. METHOD: F98 GB cells inoculated in the rat brain were imaged using T2- and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted (T1w) MRI. A dose of 20 Gy (5 × 5 mm(2)) was delivered to the target volume delineated based on T1w MRI for three treatment groups. Two of those treatment groups received an additional radiation boost of 5 Gy (1 × 1 mm(2)) delivered to the region either with maximum [(18)F]FET or [(18)F]FAZA PET tracer uptake, respectively. All therapy groups received intraperitoneal (IP) injections of TMZ. Finally, a control group received no RT and only control IP injections. The average, minimum and maximum dose, as well as the D(90)-, D(50)- and D(2)- values were calculated for nine rats using both RT plans. To evaluate response to therapy, follow-up tumor volumes were delineated based on T1w MRI. RESULTS: When comparing the dose volume histograms, a significant difference was found exclusively between the D(2)-values. A significant difference in tumor growth was only found between active therapy and sham therapy respectively, while no significant differences were found when comparing the three treatment groups. CONCLUSION: In this study we showed the feasibility of PET guided subvolume boosting of F98 glioblastoma in rats. No evidence was found for a beneficial effect regarding tumor response. However, improvements for dose targeting in rodents and studies investigating new targeted drugs for GB treatment are mandatory. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13014-019-1290-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.