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Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2015

Serum thymidine kinase activity in clinically healthy and diseased horses: A potential marker for lymphoma

Larsdotter, Sara; Nostell, Katarina; Von Euler, Henrik

Abstract

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. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Equine; Lymphoma; Thymidine kinase; Biomarker; Oncology

Published in

Veterinary Journal
2015, volume: 205, number: 2, pages: 313-316
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Authors' information

Larsdotter, Sara (Larsdotter Davey, Sara)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Universitetsdjursjukhuset
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Clinical Sciences
Von Euler, Henrik (Rönnberg, Henrik)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Clinical Sciences

UKÄ Subject classification

Clinical Science

Publication Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2015.01.019

URI (permanent link to this page)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/75579