Diagnostic Performance of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen-Targeted Positron Emission Tomography in Patients Diagnosed with Different Types of Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review

Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Oct 24;25(21):11413. doi: 10.3390/ijms252111413.

Abstract

Recent research has proposed using positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) along with the administration of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting radiopharmaceuticals to identify breast cancer (BC) lesions. An extensive literature review to investigate the possible diagnostic utility of PET/CT with PSMA-targeting radiopharmaceuticals in BC patients was performed. The research comprised different clinical scenarios, including both newly diagnosed BC patients and those who had experienced disease relapse. This updated systematic review encompassed six studies investigating the diagnostic efficacy of PSMA-targeted PET/CT in BC. Throughout all clinical settings investigated, the papers presented data demonstrating a modest diagnostic performance of PSMA-targeted PET/CT in different subtypes of BC. In this setting, PSMA-guided PET/CT showed slightly higher accuracy in patients diagnosed with triple-negative BC. Based on the current literature, PSMA-targeted PET/CT cannot be suggested as a diagnostic tool to assess BC extent in any clinical scenario. However, based on the PSMA expression observed in triple-negative patients, it can be proposed as a tool to evaluate whether BC patients could benefit from PSMA-targeting radioligand therapy.

Keywords: PET; PSMA; breast cancer; neoangiogenesis; nuclear medicine; oncology.

Publication types

  • Systematic Review
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Antigens, Surface* / metabolism
  • Breast Neoplasms* / diagnostic imaging
  • Breast Neoplasms* / metabolism
  • Breast Neoplasms* / pathology
  • Female
  • Glutamate Carboxypeptidase II* / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography* / methods
  • Radiopharmaceuticals*

Substances

  • FOLH1 protein, human
  • Antigens, Surface
  • Glutamate Carboxypeptidase II
  • Radiopharmaceuticals

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.