Ahmed Sarah Ibrahim, Mohy Abeer Mohamed, Farid Hossam Mohamed, Elnaggar Ghada Nabil
Department of Clinical Pathology, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 19;15(1):30380. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-15375-0.
Prostate cancer is a widespread malignancy with high mortality rates. Therapeutic success depends on clinical biomarkers for early detection and progression of the disease. The study aimed to assess the potential role of Thymidine Kinase one (TK1) and folate receptor alpha (FORα) in prostate cancer. Forty-five newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients, and 45 age matched apparently healthy males were included. Serum levels of TK1 and FORα were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. TK1 and FORα were significantly increased in prostate cancer patients compared to the control group (mean 28.11pg/ml vs. 15.66 pg/ml, p-value < 0.001) and (median 1686.4 pg/ml vs. 437.2 pg/ml, p-value < 0.001) respectively. At a cutoff level ˃22.1 pg/ml, TK1 showed 91.11% sensitivity, 88.89% specificity and AUC = 0.973 (95% CI: 0.945-0.999). FORα showed moderate discriminatory power with 73.33% sensitivity and 88.89% specificity, AUC was 0.770 (95% CI: 0.661-0.879) at cutoff level ˃918.16 pg/ml. Combining TK1 with total PSA markedly improved the diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity 95.56%, specificity 97.78%). TK1 showed significant positive correlation with Gleason score, WHO grade and presence of metastasis at p < 0.001 each. TK1 & FORα could serve as biomarkers for prostate cancer diagnosis and prognosis offering a novel treatment approach.
前列腺癌是一种广泛存在且死亡率很高的恶性肿瘤。治疗的成功取决于用于疾病早期检测和进展的临床生物标志物。该研究旨在评估胸苷激酶1（TK1）和叶酸受体α（FORα）在前列腺癌中的潜在作用。研究纳入了45名新诊断的前列腺癌患者以及45名年龄匹配的明显健康男性。采用酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）技术测量血清中TK1和FORα的水平。与对照组相比，前列腺癌患者的TK1和FORα水平显著升高（均值分别为28.11pg/ml对15.66 pg/ml，p值<0.001）以及（中位数分别为1686.4 pg/ml对437.2 pg/ml，p值<0.001）。在截断水平>22.1 pg/ml时，TK1的敏感性为91.11%，特异性为88.89%，曲线下面积（AUC）=0.973（95%置信区间：0.945 - 0.999）。FORα在截断水平>918.16 pg/ml时具有中等区分能力，敏感性为73.33%，特异性为88.89%，AUC为0.770（95%置信区间：0.661 - 0.879）。将TK1与总前列腺特异抗原（PSA）相结合显著提高了诊断准确性（敏感性95.56%，特异性97.78%）。TK1与 Gleason评分、世界卫生组织（WHO）分级以及转移的存在均呈显著正相关，p值均<0.001。TK1和FORα可作为前列腺癌诊断和预后的生物标志物，提供一种新的治疗方法。
