BACKGROUNDIt has been known that facilitative glucose transporter(GLUT) is the main carrier which intervenes the glucose uptake of cell,and there is a significant correlation between GLUT1 and cancer.The expression of GLUT1 in lung cancer has close relationship with the uptake of 18fluoro-2-deoxyglucose(FDG) of lung cancer,and the expression of GLUT1 is regulated by hypoxia inducible factor-1(HIF-1).The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship among expression of GLUT1,HIF-1α and the uptake of FDG in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).

METHODSEighty-four patients with NSCLC were evaluated with FDG PET/CT before operation.The expression of GLUT1 and HIF-1α was detected immunohistochemically in lung cancer,and their expression level was assessed by the intensity of immunohistochemical staining.Correlation analysis was carried out among the expression level of GLUT1,HIF-1α and the value of standard uptake value(SUV) obtained from preoperative FDG PET/CT examination.

RESULTSThe range of average SUV(SUVave) of the eighty-four patients was 3.6-13.2,and the average value was 7.8±3.0.There was no significant correlation between the SUVave and the maximum diameter of the tumors,the TNM stage,pathological classification and the degree of differentiation.The positive rate of GLUT1 in the eighty-four patients was 95.2%(80/84).The average intensity of immunohistochemical staining was 4.4±1.3.The positive rate of HIF-1α in the eighty-four patients was 96.4%(81/84).The average intensity of immunohistochemical staining was 4.4±1.4.A highly significant positive correlation was found between GLUT1 expression and the SUVave(r=0.78,P < 0.01),and also between HIF-1α expression and the SUVave(r=0.73,P < 0.01).There was also a highly significant positive correlation between GLUT1 expression and HIF-1α expression(r=0.93,P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSGLUT1 protein and HIF-1α expressions are general in NSCLC tissues.GLUT1 may paly an important role in the glucose and FDG uptake of lung cancer cell,and HIF-1α might be one of the most important regulative factors of GLUT1 expression,which up-regulates the expression of GLUT1.