The half-life of thymidine kinase 1 in serum measured by ECL dot blot: a potential marker for monitoring the response to surgery of patients with gastric cancer.
Thymidine kinase 1 in serum (STK1) of patients with gastric cancer was determined by two methods: ECL dot blot and radioactivity assay. Both measurements showed significantly different values for preoperative STK1 and healthy STK1 (p=0.012 for ECL dot blot and p=0.003 for the radioactivity assay). The preliminary results of ECL dot blot STK1 measurement showed that in tumor-free subjects the level of the enzyme was significantly reduced to 52.7% 35 days after surgery (n=8, p=0.0106). The decrease in STK1 levels in the tumor-free subjects paralleled the decline of the half-life of the STK1 enzyme. In patients with distant metastases (n=6) the enzyme level had increased to 173% 35 days postoperatively. By contrast, with the radioactivity assay no significant differences in thymidine kinase activity for 0-day-postoperative patients and 35-day-postoperative tumor-free patients was found (p=0.329). The activity decreased to 80% in 35-day-postoperative patients with metastatic disease. We suggest that the value of the half-life of STK1 measured by ECL dot blot can be used as a potential marker for monitoring the response to surgery in patients with gastric or other cancers one month after surgery.
Department of Surgery, Wuhan University Hospital, China.
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D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000601:surgery*; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000097:blood*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D013937:Thymidine Kinase; C092717:thymidine kinase 1