The use of tumour markers

General biochemical medical background

In general, substances which are increasingly formed in the presence of malignant diseases and can be detected in blood or other body fluids, are referred to as tumour markers. These are primarily proteins, but nucleic acids such as DNA or RNA and even metabolites, also fall under this definition. Strictly speaking however, only the first 3 categories, in other words the biopolymers, are regarded as tumour markers. All of today‘s tumour markers are by no means only produced by malignant, degenerated cells, but can also be detected at low concentrations in the peripheral blood of healthy subjects. In addition, benign disorders of various organs very often lead to transient, more or less pronounced increases in the serum concentration. In terms of…