Tumour Markers

From MedLabWiki

Common Tumour Markers:

  • Oncofetal Antigens
    • Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)
    • Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG)
    • Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA)
      • elevations in GI cancers, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, and lung cancer
      • increases with age and due to smoking
  • Carbohydrate Antigens (mucins/carbohydrate-rich glycoproteins)
    • Cancer Antigen 125 (CA-125)
      • Elevated with ovarian carcinomas and endometrial cancer
    • Cancer Antigen 19-9
      • Elevated with pancreatic carcinomas, other cancers (colorectal, GI, and lung)
    • Cancer Antigen 15-3
      • Elevated with breast carcinomas and adenocarcinomas (benign)
  • Beta-2 Microglobulin (B2M)
    • Associated with blood and bone marrow cancers (MM, CLL, B-cell lymphoma)
    • Elevated in some inflammatory disorders
  • Thyroglobulin (Tg)
    • Associated with thyroid cancers
  • Catecholamine Metabolites
    • Vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) is most common
      • Associated with neural crest tumours and neuroblastomas
    • Homovanillic acid (HVA)
      • Associated with neural crest tumours and neuroblastomas

Limitations

  • Hook Effect
  • Non-linearity of dilutions
  • Heterophile antibodies