Method And System For Detecting Lymphosarcoma in Cats Using Biomarkers

Abstract

The invention provides a method and system for developing and using diagnoses of lymphosarcoma in feline subjects using Thymidine kinase (TK) and haptoglobin (HP) as biomarkers. The invention provides a method for obtaining the level of each biomarker and computing an index for a feline subject. The invention provides predefined index ranges to which the index value may be matched in order to determine whether the subject has a high probability of being affected by lymphosarcoma, even when the subject shows apparent symptoms that may be common with inflammatory bowel disease.

The claimed invention is: 
     
         1 . A system for diagnosing lymphosarcoma in felines comprising:
 means for obtaining a serum portion of a blood sample from a feline subject;   means for obtaining the concentration of thymidine kinase in said serum portion;   means for obtaining the concentration of haptoglobin in said serum portion; and   a computer system for executing computer program code, said program code comprising computer program instructions configured to cause said computer system to:
 receive data from said means for obtaining said concentration of thymidine kinase and from said means for obtaining said concentration of haptoglobin; 
 compute an index value for said feline subject using data; 
 obtain at least two ranges of said index value, wherein at least one range of said ranges is indicative of the presence of lymphosarcoma; and 
 output the result of whether said index value match said range indicative of the presence of lymphosarcoma. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said means for obtaining said concentration of thymidine kinase further comprising means for measuring the level of enzymatic activity of thymidine kinase in said serum portion. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said computer system further comprising computer program instructions configured to cause said computer system to:
 assign a discrete value of zero to the level of thymidine, when the thymidine kinase enzymatic level is less than 2.9 U/I;   assign a discrete value of one to the level of thymidine level, when the thymidine kinase activity level is between about 3 U/I and about 8.3 U/I;   assign a discrete value of two to the level of thymidine kinase level, when the thymidine enzymatic activity level is greater than about 8.4 U/I;   assign a discrete value of zero to the concentration of haptoglobin, when the concentration of haptoglobin is less than 94 mg/dl;   assign a discrete value of one to the concentration of haptoglobin, when the concentration of haptoglobin is between about 95 mg/dl and 149 mg/dl; and   assign a discrete value of two to the concentration of haptoglobin, when said concentration of haptoglobin is greater than about 150 mg/dl.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein said computer system further comprising computer program instructions configured to cause a computer to:
 obtain a thymidine kinase product value by multiplying said discrete value of said concentration of thymidine kinase with a thymidine kinase weighing coefficient;   obtain a haptoglobin product value by multiplying said discrete value of said concentration of haptoglobin with a haptoglobin weighing coefficient; and   sum said thymidine kinase product value and said haptoglobin product value.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said computer system further comprises computer program code comprising computer program instructions configured to cause a computer to determining whether said index value exceeds the value one (1). 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said computer system further comprises computer program code comprising computer program instructions configured to cause a computer to:
 obtain a discrete value of said concentration of thymidine kinase and a discrete value of said concentration of haptoglobin; and   obtain a thymidine kinase product value by multiplying said discrete value of said concentration of thymidine kinase with a thymidine kinase weighing coefficient;   obtain a haptoglobin product value by multiplying said discrete value of said concentration of haptoglobin with a haptoglobin weighing coefficient; and   sum said thymidine kinase product value and said haptoglobin product value.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said computer system further comprises computer program code comprising computer program instructions configured to cause a computer to obtain at least two ranges of said index value, wherein at least one range of said ranges is indicative of the presence of inflammatory bowel disease. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein said computer system further comprises computer program code comprising computer program instructions configured to cause a computer to output the result of whether said index value match said range indicative of the presence of inflammatory bowel disease.