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A substance, usually a protein, that a tumour releases into the blood in measurable amounts. Rising or falling levels track whether the cancer is growing or responding, though they are rarely good enough for diagnosis on their own.
Classic tumour markers are PSA (prostate), CA-125 (ovarian), CEA (colorectal), CA 19-9 (pancreatic), AFP (liver, germ cell), beta-hCG (germ cell) and LDH (a general marker of tumour bulk); most are also made by normal tissue or raised by benign conditions, so they lack the specificity to diagnose cancer and mostly serve to monitor known disease. PSA screening is the well-known exception and the standing example of the trade-off between finding cancers early and overdiagnosing harmless ones. Circulating tumour DNA is in effect a new generation of tumour marker, more specific because it carries the tumour's own mutations.
Showing the technology this term belongs to: Liquid biopsy (ctDNA).
Shares Serum tumour markers: proper use and misuse, Ovarian cancer, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Shares AFP, hCG and LDH in germ cell tumours (IGCCCG risk groups), Thyroglobulin, calcitonin and CEA in thyroid cancer follow-up, CEA surveillance after colorectal cancer surgery, Serum tumour markers: proper use and misuse.
Shares Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Liquid biopsy (ctDNA), Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Colorectal cancer.
Shares Thyroglobulin, calcitonin and CEA in thyroid cancer follow-up, CEA surveillance after colorectal cancer surgery, Serum tumour markers: proper use and misuse, Colorectal cancer.
Shares CEA surveillance after colorectal cancer surgery, Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Liquid biopsy (ctDNA), Colorectal cancer.
Shares Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Liquid biopsy (ctDNA), Hepatocellular carcinoma, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Shares Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Liquid biopsy (ctDNA), Prostate cancer, Colorectal cancer.
Shares Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Liquid biopsy (ctDNA), Hepatocellular carcinoma, Colorectal cancer.