Serum thymidine kinase activity in clinically healthy and diseased horses: a potential marker for lymphoma.
Serum thymidine kinase (sTK) activity is a tumour marker used as a prognostic indicator for lymphoma in humans, dogs and cats. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical utility of sTK as a biomarker for lymphoma in horses. Serum samples were collected from clinically normal horses (n = 37), horses with lymphoma (n = 23), horses with non-haematopoietic neoplasia (n = 9) and horses with inflammatory disease (n = 14). sTK was measured using a radioenzyme assay. A reference cut-off value of <2.7 U/L (mean + 2 standard deviations, SDs) was established using data from clinically normal horses. sTK activity (mean ± SD) was 26.3 ± 91.5 U/L (range 0.8-443 U/L) for horses with lymphoma, 2.3 ± 1.4 U/L (range 0.6-5.7 U/L) for horses with non-haematopoietic neoplasia and 1.5 ± 0.6 U/L (range 0.6-2.8 U/L) for horses with inflammatory disease. Horses with lymphoma had significantly higher sTK activity than horses without clinical signs of disease (P <0.01), horses with inflammatory disease (P <0.01) and horses with non-haematopoietic neoplasia (P <0.05). sTK activity is a potentially useful biomarker for equine lymphoma.
University Animal Hospital, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden.
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Larsdotter
Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Large Animals, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden.
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Nostell
Centre for Clinical Comparative Oncology, Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden. Electronic address: henrik.von.euler@slu.se.
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von Euler
D000818:Animals; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D006736:Horses; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D013937:Thymidine Kinase
Biomarker; Equine; Lymphoma; Oncology; Thymidine kinase