CEA
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Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a cell-adhesive glycoprotein that was discovered in colorectal cancer in 1965, and is hence one of the oldest and most used tumour markers. Its name derives from its normal expression in fetoembryonic liver, gut and pancreas tissue.
Normal range of CEA is <2.5 ng/ml in adult non-smokers and <5.0 ng/ml in smokers.
Its primary significance is in colorectal cancer:
- as with most tumour markers it is inappropriate for screening given it poor sensitivity and specificity
- used routinely for detecting post operative early recurrence and metastatic disease, especially liver disease
- also used for monitoring response to treatment of metastatic disease
- higher levels are associated with
- higher grade tumours
- higher stage disease
- visceral metastases (especially liver metastases)
It can also be found elevated in a number of other malignancies:
- pancreatic adenocarcinoma
- stomach cancer
- cholangiocarcinoma
- lung cancer
- breast cancer
- medullary thyroid carcinoma
- ovarian cancer
- sarcomas (rare)
Non-neoplastic causes common and include:
- ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease
- alcoholic pancreatitis
- liver disease
- cirrhosis
- chemotherapy related liver injury
- anaesthetic related liver injury
- COPD and some lung infections
- hypothyroidism
- smoking
See other tumour markers here.
-<li><a href="/articles/pancreatic-ductal-adenocarcinoma-staging">pancreatic adenocarcinoma</a></li>- +<li><a href="/articles/pancreatic-ductal-adenocarcinoma-staging-1">pancreatic adenocarcinoma</a></li>
-<li><a href="/articles/medullary-thyroid-cancer">medullary thyroid carcinoma</a></li>- +<li><a href="/articles/medullary-thyroid-carcinoma-1">medullary thyroid carcinoma</a></li>
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changed from cea to carcinoembryonic-antigen-cea.
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