Here’s a clear, distilled summary of the slides on common cancer markers:
What cancer markers are
- Substances (often proteins) found in blood, urine, or tissues
- Used mainly for:
- Monitoring cancer progression
- Tracking treatment response
- Not very reliable for diagnosis alone (many rise in non-cancer conditions)
Key markers & what they’re used for
Prostate-related
- Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA)
- Screening & monitoring prostate cancer
- Can also rise in benign conditions (e.g. prostatitis, cycling)
- Prostatic Acid Phosphatase (PAP)
- Prostate & some other cancers
- Less commonly used now
Carbohydrate antigens (CA markers)
- CA-125
- Ovarian cancer monitoring
- Also elevated in menstruation, pregnancy, endometriosis
- CA 15-3
- Advanced breast cancer monitoring
- Can rise in benign breast or liver conditions
- CA 27-29
- Similar to CA 15-3 (breast cancer tracking)
- CA 19-9
- Pancreatic & GI cancers
- Can increase in gallstones, liver disease
- Not produced in ~5% of people
Broad-spectrum markers
- Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA)
- Colorectal and several other cancers
- Also elevated in smokers and benign diseases
- Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)
- Liver, ovarian, testicular cancers
- Also rises in pregnancy and liver disease
Hormones & enzymes
- Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG)
- Testicular, ovarian cancers
- Also naturally high in pregnancy
- Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH)
- Elevated in many cancers
- Very non-specific (also rises in heart, liver, lung disease)
- Neuron-Specific Enolase (NSE)
- Neuroblastoma, small cell lung cancer
Emerging / research
- CYP450 1B1
- Being studied; not standard clinical use