Tumor markers: A diagnostic tool.
The purpose of this review is to give a brief background to enable the judicious use of widely performed serum cancer markers. The markers could be product of cancerous cell or as response to cancer. They are usually proteins, which are mainly found in blood or urine. These markers may be employed to predict primary or secondary tumor risk. Sometimes, non-cancerous conditions can also cause elevation of some tumor markers to be higher than normal. Besides, not every cancer patient may have raised level of a tumor marker. For these reasons, knowledge about cancer biomarkers has increased tremendously. Awareness for cancer and related tumor markers providing great opportunities for improving the management of cancer patients by enhancing the efficiency of detection and efficacy of treatment.
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, SGT, Gurgaon, Haryana, India.
Madhav
M
Nagpal
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Microbiology, Uttaranchal Dental and Medical Research Institute, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
Shreya
S
Singh
Department of Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, KGMC, Lucknow, India.
Pranshu
P
Singh
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Sri Bankey Bihari Dental College, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Pallavi
P
Chauhan
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Microbiology, Uttaranchal Dental and Medical Research Institute, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
Meesam Abbas
MA
Zaidi
Biomarkers; cancerous; oral squamous cell carcinoma; tumor markers