Cancer markers
Cancer markers are chemicals found in the blood, urine or body tissue that may show the presence of cancer. They may be produced either by the body in response to the cancer, or by the cancer itself. Different markers are linked to different types of cancer. Cancer markers are also known as tumor markers.
Markers are helpful indicators of a possible cancer. For example, doctors can often make an early detection of prostate cancer by measuring the level of PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) in a blood sample. But markers cannot tell the whole story on their own. For instance, not every man with a raised PSA level will have prostate cancer. And not every man with prostate cancer has a high PSA level. The information from markers needs to be backed up by other tests.
Although markers are not always a sure sign that cancer is present, they can help doctors to:
- Detect if a patient has cancer;
- See how well a patient is responding to treatment;
- Evaluate the success of a treatment in clinical studies.
You can find information about lung cancer markers in the lung cancer section of this site. For information about melanoma markers, go to the melanoma section.
