Thymidine kinase 1 expression in ovarian serous adenocarcinoma is superior to Ki-67: A new prognostic biomarker

Abstract

Cancer is a disease with abnormally proliferating cells and therefore proliferation rate is an important index for assessing tumour growth. Ki-67 is a commonly used proliferation marker considered to be an unfavourable prognostic marker in some tumors, while Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is an interesting proliferation marker because its levels are highly dependent on the growth stage of cells. To define the immunohistochemistry (IHC) expression of the TK1 in patients with ovarian serous adenocarcinoma and establish its potential role as a new biomarker for progressive disease, we analyzed the expression patterns of TK1 and Ki-67 in 109 patients with ovarian serous adenocarcinoma. TK1 and Ki-67 expression both showed a statistically significant correlation to MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) grade, but not to age, tumour size, lymph node metastasis or pathological TNM (pTNM) stages. TK1 expression, MDACC grades, pathological stages and lymph node metastasis correlate to relapse incident rate and overall survival, but Ki-67 does not. Although TK1 expression, MDACC grade, pTNM stage and lymph node metastasis significantly correlate to relapse in the Cox univariate analysis, in the multivariate Cox analysis only TK1 expression and lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors. The overall survival also correlated significantly to TK1 expression, MDACC grade, pTNM stage and lymph node metastasis in the Cox univariate analysis. However, only the pTNM stage was found to be an independent prognostic factor for survival in the Cox multivariate analysis. Therefore, though TK1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for relapse, but not for survival, TK1 is a more informative expression than Ki-67 for LI, relapse and overall survival rates. Thus, when TK1 is combined with MDACC grading, pTNM staging and lymph node metastasis, IHC determination of TK1 expression may improve the overall prediction of prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer.

Plasma thymidine kinase 1 activity and outcome of ER+ HER2− metastatic breast cancer patients treated with palbociclib and endocrine therapy

“…Plasma or serum TKa has been shown to be a prognostic factor in other metastatic cancers [ 18 – 20 ]. Several studies have been conducted in various MBC settings using the same assay (DiviTum) [ 21 ].…”

Development of pyogenic granuloma with strong vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 expression during ramucirumab treatment

“…Thus, the latter may be inferred from the anti-VEGF action of ramucirumab to promote PG. We also analysed TK1, an alternative cell proliferation marker to Ki-67 9–11. We found many cells positive for TK1 by immunostaining, thus indicating the proliferation of vascular cells.…”

Thymidine kinase 1 through the ages: a comprehensive review

“…A clinical study conducted by Nisman et al in patient samples determined that increased levels of serum TK1 after first and second rounds of chemotherapy in nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) was indicative of treatment failure and poor overall survival [96]. Huang et al and Wang et al also contributed to this theory when they showed that higher rates of occurrence and poorer overall survival of patients with locally advance breast cancer patients and ovarian serous adenocarcinoma patients who had abnormal levels of serum TK1 [98,99].…”