Tumor marker
| Tumor marker | |
|---|---|
| Term | Tumor marker |
| Short definition | tumor marker - (pronounced) (TOO-mer MAR-ker) substance found in tissue, blood, bone marrow or other body fluids that can be a sign of cancer or certain benign (noncancerous) diseases. Many tumor markers are proteins made by both normal cells and cancer cells, but they are made in greater amounts by cancer cells. |
| Type | Cancer terms |
| Specialty | Oncology |
| Language | English |
| Source | NCI |
| Comments | |
tumor marker - (pronounced) (TOO-mer MAR-ker) substance found in tissue, blood, bone marrow or other body fluids that can be a sign of cancer or certain benign (noncancerous) diseases. Many tumor markers are proteins made by both normal cells and cancer cells, but they are made in greater amounts by cancer cells. Genetic changes in tumor tissue such as gene mutations, gene expression patterns and other changes in tumor DNA or RNA are also used as tumor markers. A tumor marker can be used along with other tests to help diagnose cancer. It can also be used to plan treatment, give a likely prognosis, and find out how well treatment is working or if the cancer has come back. Examples of tumor markers are CA-125 (in ovarian cancer), estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor (in breast cancer), CEA (in colon cancer), PCA3 mRNA and PSA (in prostate cancer), and EGFR gene mutation (in non-small cell lung cancer)
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Tumor marker
- Wikipedia's article - Tumor marker
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