title: A clinical evaluation of the TK 210 ELISA in sera from breast cancer patients demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity in all stages of disease.
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 the3[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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, VHC, PO Box 7011, SE 75007, Uppsala, Sweden. Kirankumar.j@slu.se.|AroCell AB, Virdings Allé 32B, SE-754 50, Uppsala, Sweden. Kirankumar.j@slu.se.
authors.forename: J Kiran
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: AroCell AB, Virdings Allé 32B, SE-754 50, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Aronsson
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pilko
authors.affiliation: Blood transfusion Centre, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zupan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kumer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fabjan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Osredkar
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, VHC, PO Box 7011, SE 75007, Uppsala, Sweden.|AroCell AB, Virdings Allé 32B, SE-754 50, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eriksson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D018396:Mucin-1 / Q000097:blood; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018396:Mucin-1; D013937:Thymidine Kinase; C092717:thymidine kinase 1
keywords: Breast cancer; CA 15-3; Prognosis; Sandwich TK 210 ELISA; Thymidine kinase 1