Serum thymidine kinase 1 correlates to clinical stages and clinical reactions and monitors the outcome of therapy of 1,247 cancer patients in routine clinical settings

Background Thymidine kinase 1 in serum (STK1) has been found to be a reliable proliferation marker in clinical trials. In this study, we examined the significance of STK1 in routine clinical settings. Methods The concentration of STK1 was determined by a sensitive dot blot ECL assay. The STK1 value was correlated to clinical stage and reactions and used for monitoring the outcome of surgery and/or multidrug chemotherapy of 1,247 patients with five different types of carcinomas (lung, esophagus, gastric, head and neck, and thyroid) in routine clinical settings. Results The STK1 values correlated with the clinical stage in patients with lung, esophagus, thyroid, and gastric carcinomas. After treatment, STK1 declined in all tumor groups after treatments ( P