Moore C, Stefanovski D, Luethy D. Clinical performance of a commercially available thymidine kinase 1 assay for diagnosis of lymphoma in 42 hospitalized horses (2017-2020).
J Vet Intern Med 2021;
35:2495-2499. [PMID:
34359096 PMCID:
PMC8478028 DOI:
10.1111/jvim.16239]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Revised: 07/12/2021] [Accepted: 07/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Background
Antemortem definitive diagnosis of lymphoma in horses is often difficult. Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) assay is a potentially useful biomarker for lymphoma in horses.
Hypothesis/objectives
To report the clinical performance of a commercially available TK1 assay for diagnosis of lymphoma in horses. We hypothesized that there would be no association between serum TK1 activity and a diagnosis of lymphoma in horses.
Animals
Forty‐two hospitalized horses, 14 with a definitive diagnosis of lymphoma, 4 with other neoplasia, and 24 with inflammatory disease.
Methods
Retrospective medical record review, groups were compared via Kruskal‐Wallis and Mann‐Whitney tests, and logistic regression was performed.
Results
Median (range) TK1 was 3 U/L (0.4‐17.7 U/L) in horses with lymphoma and 3.9 U/L (0.8‐94 U/L) in horses without lymphoma (P = .59). There was no significant difference in total protein between horses with and without lymphoma (6.6 g/dL [5.5‐8.3 g/dL] vs 6.6 g/dL [4.7‐10.4 g/dL]; P = .83). There was no significant difference in fibrinogen between horses with and without lymphoma (447 [100‐1364] mg/dL vs 433 [291‐2004] mg/dL; P = .47). On logistic regression, serum TK1 activity was not associated with a diagnosis of lymphoma (odds ratio, 0.97; 95% confidence interval, 0.9‐1.05, P = .48).
Conclusion and Clinical Importance
Serum TK1 values were not predictive of lymphoma diagnosis in this cohort of horses.
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