We have synthesized and characterized a positron-emitting carbon-11-labeled 1,2-diacylglycerol to study phosphoinositide turnover in tumor cells. Rapid incorporation of the 1,2-diacylglycerol was observed in the C6 glioma cell line. The incorporated lipid fraction consisted chiefly of phosphoinositide pool and another phospholipid pool in the proliferative state. When the state was inhibited by (-)-3D-3-deoxy-3-fluoro-myo-inositol, incorporation into the phosphoinositide pool decreased selectively. This suggested that phosphoinositide turnover is the leading regulator of tumor proliferation potential. On the basis of the concept of carbon-11-labeled 1,2-diacylglycerol as a specific probe for visualizing the tumor signal transduction in vivo, we obtained proliferating images of implanted C6 glioma cells in the rat brain by autoradiography and visualized the proliferation signal in human glioma by positron emission tomography.

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This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Science Research (02454337, 05671179, 06282254, 06671411, and 07274259) from the Ministry of Education Science and Culture of Japan. Animal experiments and care followed the Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals established by The Animal Care Committee of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine.

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©1995 American Association for Cancer Research.
1995
American Association for Cancer Research, Inc.