Contribution of [18F]DPA-714 PET for Grading and Exploration of the Inflammatory Microenvironment of Glioma.

The 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO) is a mitochondrial protein that is weakly expressed in the healthy brain. However, there is an increase in the expression of TSPO in glial tumors. It is even associated with a higher malignancy and a shorter survival of patients. Among the different TSPO ligands, the most commonly used tracers in PET imaging are \[18F\]DPA-714 and 18F-GE180. We hypothesize that \[18F\]DPA-714 PET could improve the current performance for tumor grade definition in vivo, which is a major issue for the therapeutic management of gliomas.