2. Academic Validation
  3. Superior mucoepidermoid carcinoma detection with ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT reflects FAP-α expression and MAML2 fusion status

Superior mucoepidermoid carcinoma detection with ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT reflects FAP-α expression and MAML2 fusion status

  • Sci Rep. 2026 Jan 7;16(1):4410. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-34528-9.
Jianbo Yang 1,  Menglan Liu 2,  Haoling Tang 2,  Jianlin Li 3,  Junyu Chen 2,  Yang Xie 4 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Nuclear medicine, Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Laboratory for Targeted Radiopharmaceuticals Creation, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, China.
  • 2 Department of Neurology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, China.
  • 3 Department of Radiology, The Third People's Hospital of Chengdu, Chengdu, 610000, China.
  • 4 Department of Neurology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, China. [email protected].
  • 5 Department of Nuclear medicine, Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Laboratory for Targeted Radiopharmaceuticals Creation, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, China. [email protected].
PMID: 41501171 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-34528-9
Abstract

This study evaluated the diagnostic potential of the FAP-targeted tracer ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT in mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC), demonstrating its superior sensitivity over ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT in detecting primary tumors (100% vs. 85.7%) and metastatic lesions (33 lymph nodes and 19 distant metastases), with significantly higher SUVmax and TBR values. High-grade MEC exhibited elevated stromal FAP-α expression, strongly correlating with ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI uptake metrics (r = 0.91–0.96, p < 0.01), while MAML2-negative tumors showed amplified FAP activity, suggesting stromal activation-driven aggressive behavior. These findings highlight ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT as a transformative imaging biomarker for accurate grading, metastasis detection, and risk stratification in MEC, offering a non-invasive stromal imaging paradigm to enhance clinical decision-making and targeted therapy for this histologically complex malignancy.

Keywords

Fibroblast activation protein; MAML2 fusion; Mucoepidermoid carcinoma; Tumor grading; ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT.

Figures
Products
  • Cat. No.
    Product Name
    Description
    Target
    Research Area
  • HY-128643
    99.47%, FAP Inhibitor
    FAP