Tumor Markers

Question 1

Alkaline phosphatase

Answer 1

Metastases to bone, liver, Paget disease of bone, seminoma (placental ALP)

Question 2

a-fetoprotein

Answer 2

Normally made by fetus. HCC, hepatoblastoma, yolk sac (endodermal sinus) tumor, testicular cancer, mixed germ cell tumor (co-secreted with B-hCG)

Question 3

B-hCG

Answer 3

Hyaditiform moles and choriocarcinomas (gestational trophoblastic disease), testicular cancer

Question 4

CA-15-3/CA-27-29

Answer 4

Breast cancer

Question 5

CA-19-9

Answer 5

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Question 6

CA-125

Answer 6

Ovarian cancer

Question 7

Calcitonin

Answer 7

Medullary thyroid carcinoma

Question 8

CEA

Answer 8

CarcinoEmbryonic Antigen. Very nonspecific but produced by ~70% of colorectal and pancreatic cancers; also produced by gastric, breast, and medullary thyroid carcinomas.

Question 9

PSA

Answer 9

Prostate-specific antigen. Used to follow prostate adenocarcinoma. Can also be elevated in BPH and prostatitis

Question 10

S-100

Answer 10

Neural crest origin (ex: melanomas, neural tumors, schwannomas, Langerhans cell histiocytosis)

Question 11

TRAP

Answer 11

Tartrate-Resistant Acid Phosphatase (TRAP); seen in hairy cell leukemia (B-cell neoplasm)