Abstract
Thymidine kinase (TK1) is an enzyme involved in DNA synthesis that leaks into the blood as a result of high cell turnover, particularly in the case of cancer. Serum TK1 activity has been used for prognosis and monitoring of leukemia and lymphoma patients for many years. Here, we describe the first clinical results with the newly developed TK 210 ELISA from AroCell AB. Sera from 124 breast cancer patients with known TNM classification along with sera from 53 healthy females were analyzed by TK 210 ELISA for TK1 protein and TK1 activity levels by the 3[H]-deoxythymidine (dThd) phosphorylation assay. The limit of detection for the TK 210 ELISA was 0.17 ng/ml, and 60 % of the sera from female blood donors were below this value. The median TK1 levels found in sera from breast cancer patients with T1 to T4 stage disease were 0.31, 0.46, 0.47, and 0.55 ng/ml, and these levels significantly differed from healthy controls. The median values of the biomarker CA 15-3 were also increased in patient sera from T1 to T4 patients (16, 34, 36, 40 U/ml, respectively). TK 210 ELISA showed significantly higher sensitivity for the T1 and T2 breast cancer patients compared to the TK activity assay. The combination of the TK1 ELISA and CA 15-3 biomarkers demonstrated a significant increase in sensitivity up to 15 % compared to each marker alone. This evaluation of the TK 210 ELISA strongly suggests that it can provide independent and complementary information for patients with breast cancer.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13277-016-5024-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer that accounts for 10–18 % of all cancer deaths in women [1]
Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) activity values ranged from 0.6 to 3.1 pmol/min/ml and in breast cancer patients, the STK1 activity levels were significantly higher compared to the healthy group (Fig. 1a), in the range of 0.9 to 48 pmol/min/ml with a median value of 2.5 pmol/min/ml
Proliferation in tumor cells correlates with high levels of TK1 since this enzyme plays an important role in pyrimidine deoxynucleotide synthesis
Summary
Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer that accounts for 10–18 % of all cancer deaths in women [1]. Serum biomarkers are potentially useful for early diagnosis, therapy monitoring, and predicting tumor relapse [4]. Several biomarkers such as estrogen receptor (ER) [5], human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2/neu) [6], carbohydrate antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3) [7], and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) [8] have been evaluated for prognosis, diagnosis, and treatment monitoring in breast cancer. CA 15-3 is the most commonly used It is a protein product of the MUC-1 gene, which is shed into the blood stream in an under glycosylated form from adenocarcinomas [9].
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