Phase II study demonstrates prognostic value of uPAR-PET in head and neck cancer patients
Results from an investigator-initiated phase II study performed by researchers at Rigshospitalet and using the uTRACE[®] technology have now been published online ahead of print in the prestigious Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The abstract of the article is freely available here (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34857658/).
The phase II study
The phase II trial (NCT02965001) aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of uPAR-PET with 68Ga-NOTA-AE105 (uTRACE) in head and neck cancer and compare it to FDG-PET. A total of 57 patients referred to radiotherapy were included and followed for a median of 34 months. The main finding was that patients with high uptake on uPAR-PET compared to those with a low uptake had an 8.5-fold poorer prognosis regarding relapse-free survival. Also, when compared with commonly used prognostic markers (FDG-PET, TNM stage and p16 status) in a multivariate analysis, only uPAR-PET remained significant. The conclusion of the authors is that uPAR-PET could potentially become valuable regarding planning of therapy and follow-up in head and neck cancer patients.