Cancer Markers Tests
The Tests (6)
CEA Test
Carcinoembryonic antigen is a blood protein used chiefly to monitor colorectal cancer after surgery; smoking and benign conditions can also raise it.
Read the deep dive →PSA Test
Measures a prostate enzyme in blood used in prostate cancer screening, a debated practice because benign enlargement, infection or inflammation also raise it.
Read the deep dive →AFP Test
Alpha-fetoprotein is used in prenatal screening and to monitor liver cancer and germ cell tumors; a normal result does not exclude liver cancer.
Read the deep dive →CA125 Test
Measures a mucin protein used mainly to follow ovarian cancer treatment and recurrence; many benign conditions raise it, so alone it screens poorly.
Read the deep dive →Beta2 Microglobulin
Measures a small cell-surface protein that reflects both cell turnover in blood cancers like myeloma and lymphoma and how well the kidneys filter.
Read the deep dive →Tumor-Markers
An overview of blood tumor markers and liquid biopsy: useful for following diagnosed cancer, but with few exceptions poor at screening healthy people.
Read the deep dive →Tumour markers. Most are far better at tracking a known cancer than at finding an unknown one, which is the single most important thing to understand about them.