A new study supports that TK1 can predict death in prostate cancer
A recently published doctoral dissertation deepens the knowledge about early detection, course, and prediction of treatment effects in prostate cancer. The dissertation is called "Prostate cancer: population based screening and markers for long-term clinical outcome". It is written by Per-Olof Lundgren at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.
One article in the dissertation examines the extent to which the concentration of the enzyme Thymidine Kinase 1 (TK1) in the blood can be used to predict whether the man will die of prostate cancer. Blood samples were collected in 1988 and 1989 from 330 men. Of these, 96 were diagnosed with prostate cancer and 36 died of the disease during the 30-year follow-up. The samples have been stored frozen and have now been analyzed with AroCell TK 210 ELISA. Mortality from prostate cancer was higher among the men who had a high concentration of TK1 in the blood compared to those who had a low concentration.
"This is the third study that indicates that TK1 can be a valuable biomarker for prostate cancer," says AroCell's CMO Gunnar Steineck. "Not least in metastatic disease, biomarkers may be able to help physicians and patients plan treatment. In addition to androgen deprivation therapy, there are drugs for prostate cancer with three different mechanisms of action. Biomarkers may be helpful in understanding when and to which men the various drugs are best used."