AroCell AB (publ) Announced that TK1 together with PSA can predict more than 10 years differences in survival in men with prostate cancer. In a study carried out by a research group at Karolinska Hospital and Karolinska Institute, it appears that the combination of TK1 and PSA provides a new biomarker that can early indicate survival in prostate cancer patients. A peer-reviewed article on Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) has been published in the International Journal of Molecular Science.

The study, entitled: Prediction of overall survival by thymidine kinase 1 combined with prostate specific antigen in men with prostate cancer, was done by a research group at Karolinska Institute and Karolinska Hospital. TK1 was analyzed with AroCells TK210 ELISA in 30-year-old blood samples from a prostate cancer screening executed at Södersjukhuset in 1988-89. TK1 was combined with PSA into one biomarker.

Though PSA is the most used blood marker for diagnosis and follow-up of prostate cancer, it is limited by the fact that there are many non-cancer-related reasons for increased PSA values, such as age. TK1, on the other hand, is found to be independent of age and other prostate-related characteristics. The combination of TK1 and PSA identified subgroups of men with more than 10 years difference in survival time.

This enables individual treatment of high-risk patients.