Staging metastatic urothelial cancer with Nectin‐4 imaging using Gallium‐68‐ N188 PET / CT

作者：Matthias Miederer, Marc Pretze, Elena Abbate, Andreas Hartig, Joana do Mar Machado, Katharina Böhm, Ulrich Sommer, Sebastian Hoberück, Ralph A. Bundschuh, Jörg Kotzerke, Christian Thomas · 发表于：British Journal of Urology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1111/bju.16901 · 被引用次数：8 · 研究领域：Wnt/β-catenin signaling in development and cancer、Immune Cell Function and Interaction、Galectins and Cancer Biology

OBJECTIVE: To quantify Nectin-4 expression in tumour lesions using the Nectin-4-binding peptide Gallium-68-N188 and positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) in patients with advanced or metastasised urothelial cancer eligible for therapy with the Nectin-4-directed antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin, in combination with checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Ev/P). METHODS: In 10 patients, Nectin-4 PET/CT imaging was analysed before planned systemic therapy with Ev/P based on standardised uptake value (SUV) measurements and the results were correlated to available microscopic findings on Nectin-4 immunohistochemistry and to clinical follow-up. RESULTS: Nectin-4 PET is suitable for detecting Nectin-4 expression in tumour lesions and demonstrates heterogeneity in Nectin-4 expression - for example, between lymph node metastases and organ metastases. PET imaging of Nectin-4 expression is therefore a potentially clinically relevant method for managing the application of Nectin-4-targeted therapies. CONCLUSIONS: We show, as a proof of principle, that Nectin-4 expression can be detected on imaging and serves as an innovative biomarker for targeted therapy in urothelial cancer. Intra-individual heterogeneous expression of Nectin-4 in metastatic sites is frequent.