select an appropriate treatment (e.g., treatment with a targeted therapy).diagnose, stage, and/or classify cancer. Tumor tissue (or cell) markers are found in the actual tumors themselves, typically in a sample of the tumor that is removed during a biopsy. Such “serial measurements,” which show how the level of a marker is changing over time, are usually more meaningful than a single measurement. For example, a decrease in the level of a circulating tumor marker may indicate that the cancer is responding to treatment, whereas an increasing or unchanged level may indicate that the cancer is not responding.Ĭirculating tumor markers may also be measured periodically after treatment has ended to check for recurrence (the return of cancer).Įxamples of commonly used circulating tumor markers include calcitonin (measured in blood), which is used to assess treatment response, screen for recurrence, and estimate prognosis in medullary thyroid cancer CA-125 (measured in blood), to monitor how well cancer treatments are working and if cancer has come back in ovarian cancer and beta-2-microglobulin (measured in blood, urine, or cerebrospinal fluid), to estimate prognosis and follow response to treatment for multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and some lymphomas. Additional circulating tumor markers are described in the list of tumor markers in common use. Tumor markers may also be measured periodically during cancer therapy. Therefore, measurements of circulating tumor markers are usually combined with the results of other tests, such as biopsies or imaging, to diagnose cancer. In addition, not everyone with a particular type of cancer will have a higher level of a tumor marker associated with that cancer. For example, noncancerous conditions can sometimes cause the levels of certain tumor markers to increase. monitor whether the treatment has stopped workingĪlthough an elevated level of a circulating tumor marker may suggest the presence of cancer and can sometimes help to diagnose cancer, this alone is not enough to diagnose cancer.detect cancer that remains after treatment ( residual disease) or that has returned after treatment.There are two main types of tumor markers: circulating tumor markers and tumor tissue markers.Ĭirculating tumor markers can be found in the blood, urine, stool, or other bodily fluids of some patients with cancer. How are tumor markers used in cancer care? Some are associated with only one type of cancer, whereas others are associated with multiple different cancer types Many different tumor markers have been characterized and are in clinical use. Increasingly, however, genomic markers (such as tumor gene mutations, patterns of tumor gene expression, and nongenetic changes in tumor DNA) that are found in tumors themselves and in tumor fragments shed into bodily fluids are being used. These can be found in the blood, urine, stool, tumors, or other tissues or bodily fluids of some patients with cancer. Tumor markers have traditionally been proteins or other substances that are made at higher amounts by cancer cells than normal cells. A tumor marker is anything present in or produced by cancer cells or other cells of the body in response to cancer or certain benign (noncancerous) conditions that provides information about a cancer, such as how aggressive it is, what kind of treatment it may respond to, or whether it is responding to treatment.
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