REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Gastric and Esophageal Cancers
TK1 in Gastric Cancer: Helicobacter pylori-Driven Oncogenesis, Biomarker Utility, and Emerging Targeted Therapies
Provisionally accepted
- 1Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- 2Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangzhou, China
- 3Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Gastroenterology, Guangzhou, China
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As a leading cause of cancer-related mortality among gastrointestinal malignancies, gastric carcinoma (GC) necessitates enhanced molecular diagnostic paradigms for early intervention. The thymidine kinase enzymatic family, particularly thymidine kinase 1 (TK1, EC 2.7.1.21), serves as an enzymatic orchestrator of deoxyribonucleotide salvage pathways critical for genomic integrity maintenance, and its oncogenic overexpression acts in concert with Helicobacter pylori-mediated chronic inflammatory microenvironments, and potentiates the histopathological progression from premalignant metaplasia review delineates the utility of TK1 as a serological biomarker for early detection, tumor staging, therapeutic monitoring, and prognostic stratification in GC. We have hypothesized the molecular mechanisms underlying TK1-mediated oncogenesis and its interplay with H. pylori-induced pathogenesis. Additionally, we have explored emerging TK1-targeted therapeutic modalities, including gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT), nanoscale drug delivery platforms, and adoptive cell therapy, while evaluating TK1's translational potential in GC management. Although the precise regulatory networks of TK1 in gastric carcinogenesis remain incompletely characterized, ongoing research positions TK1 as a promising diagnostic and therapeutic target, potentially revolutionizing strategies to ameliorate clinical outcomes.
Keywords: gastric cancer, Helicobacter pylori, serum biomarker, targeted therapies, Thymidine kinases
Received: 05 Jun 2025; Accepted: 06 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Zheng, Yang, Chen, Zeng, DAI and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yan Zeng
SHI XUE DAI
Shi-Jie Liu
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