TK1 is an early screening marker for uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma and promotes its progression

Abstract

BackgroundThe functional role of thymidine kinase 1(TK1) in uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC) is unknown. MethodsThe expression of TK1 between UCEC and adjacent normal tissues was compared using different data sets. Clinical and survival data were used to determine the clinical and prognostic significance of TK1 in UCEC. Serum levels of TK1 were measured by ELISA. The role of TK1 in UCEC cells cultivated in vitro was investigated by loss-of-function tests. GO/KEGG analysis was performed using the TCGA-UCEC dataset to explore possible mechanisms for the role of TK1 in UCEC progression. ResultsWe found that the expression of TK1 increased with the malignancy of UCEC, and TK1 was highly expressed and significantly associated with UCEC prognosis. AUC of ROC curve (0.933) showed that serum TK1 levels may be a potential biomarker to identify UCEC patients. Serum levels of TK1 were higher before surgical treatment and significantly decreased after surgical treatment. Knockdown of TK1 inhibited the growth of UCEC cells. Mechanistically, the function of TK1 may be attributed to its effect on major pathways such as cell cycle. TK1 deletion significantly blocked the S phase in UCEC cells. ConclusionsOverall, TK1 may be a new marker for early screening and prognosis prediction of UCEC, as well as a potential therapeutic target of UCEC.