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

Jianbo Yang, Menglan Liu, Haoling Tang, Jianlin Li, Junyu Chen, Yang Xie

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Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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6 authors.

Jianbo YangDepartment 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.

Menglan LiuDepartment of Neurology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, China.

Haoling TangDepartment of Neurology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, China.

Jianlin LiDepartment of Radiology, The Third People's Hospital of Chengdu, Chengdu, 610000, China.

Junyu ChenDepartment of Neurology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, China.

Yang XieDepartment of Neurology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, China. xy114330@163.com.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

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.

Indexed as

Carcinoma, MucoepidermoidGelatinasesMembrane ProteinsOncogene Proteins, FusionPositron Emission Tomography Computed TomographySerine EndopeptidasesTranscription FactorsEndopeptidasesFemaleFibroblast Activation Protein AlphaFluorodeoxyglucose F18HumansMaleQuinolinesTrans-Activators68Ga-FAPIEndopeptidasesFibroblast Activation Protein AlphaFluorodeoxyglucose F18GelatinasesMAML2 protein, humanMembrane ProteinsOncogene Proteins, FusionQuinolinesSerine EndopeptidasesTrans-ActivatorsTranscription Factors⁶⁸Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CTFibroblast activation proteinMAML2 fusionMucoepidermoid carcinomaTumor grading

Identifiers

PMID41501171

DOI10.1038/s41598-025-34528-9

PMCPMC12864954

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.