DCK and non-small cell lung carcinoma: Deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) is the rate-limiting enzyme in this biotransformation and its deficiency has been associated with resistance to gemcitabine in NSCLC cells [19] and in tumor xenografts [22] but no association with clinical outcome was observed in patients with NSCLC treated with gemcitabine-based chemotherapy [23].