Kirun Kumar Jagarlamudi

Division: Biochemistry

Research Interests: Cancer Biomarkers, Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) as biomarker in human and veterinary medicine

Research Goal: establishing a TK1-ELISA for determination TK1 protein levels in canine solid tumors

Research Skills: Protein expression, SDS-PAGE, Affinity chromatography, FPLC, Immunoprecipitation, Radioactivity measurements, Immunohistochemistry

Pedagogic experience: Had lab teaching experience for course to bachelors students in our department

On-going projects:

In Brief about TK1 (thymidine kinase 1):

Cell proliferation markers are valuble for detection, monitoring therapy and prognosis of tumors. Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is the only proliferation marker measured in the blood that is established in human medicine for prognosis and monitoring therapy in leukemia and lymphoma patients.

STK1 activity determinations rely on radio enzymatic and non-radiometric assays such as the TK-REA, the [3H]-dThd phosphorylation and the TK Liaison assays. TK1 is a pyrmidine salvage pathway enzyme that catalyzes the phosphorylation of deoxythymidine to deoxythymidine monophosphate (dTMP), which is further phosphorylated to deoxythymidine triphosphate (dTTP). The activity of TK1 starts to increase in late G1 phase and reaches a peak in S/early G2 phase during the cell cycle and it is absent in quiescent cells.

The TK-REA assay has been shown to be effective in dogs with malignant lymphoma and could be used to predict the relapse of the disease and follow up of therapy and it can also be used in cats. Development of several anti-human TK1 antibody based methods has further extended the clinical utility of STK1 measurements for prognosis, treatment monitoring and detection of recurrence of different tumours.

Studies in humans have shown that an assay measuring STK1 protein is more sensitive than the TK1 activity assays, particularly in case of solid tumours. In this project, we are going to develop immunoassays including TK-ELISA assays that can determine the TK1 levels in sera from hematologic malignancies and solid tumours of relevance for veterinary medicine, in particular TK-ELISA prototype assay for serum TK1 determination in dogs.

I. Kiran Kumar J., Sharif H., Westberg S., von Euler H., Eriksson S., 2013. High levels of inactive thymidine kinase 1 polypeptide in sera from dogs with solid tumours by immunoaffinity methods: Implications for in vitro diagnostics. Vet J. 197:854-860.

II. Hanan S., Jagarlamudi KK., Liya W., Ellen H., Eriksson S., 2012. Quaternary structures of recombinant, cellular and serum forms of thymidine kinase 1 from dogs and humans. BMC Biochemistry, 13:12.

III. Jagarlamudi KK., Westberg S., Rönnberg H., Eriksson S., 2014. Properties of cellular and serum forms of thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) in dogs with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and canine mammary tumours (CMTs): Implications for TK1 as a proliferation biomarker. BMC vet Res. 10: 228.

IV. Jagarlamudi KK., Hansson LO., Eriksson S. (2015). Breast and prostate cancer patients differ significantly in their serum Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) specific activities compared with those haematological malignancies and blood donors: Implications of using serum TK1 as a biomarker. BMC cancer, 15:66.