Cancer Markers of the 1990s

Abstract

The original goal of the cancer marker program was to be able to measure a marker in serum that could be used to diagnose cancer when it was still small enough to be removed surgically. if this had been possible using a simple serum marker assay, many patients otherwise doomed to die of their cancer, could be cured. Unfortunately, for most cancers, if a malignant tumor cannot be removed surgically, other forms of therapy, though often effective, are usually not curable, and often have serious deleterious side effects. Even a small tumor, the size of a peanut, contains millions of living cancer cells. Chemo-, radio-, or immunotherapy may be able to eliminate 99.99% of the tumor cells. The small fraction of residual viable tumor cell are able to poliferate, develop resistance to further therapy, and eventually kill the patient. Unfortunately, for many cancers, the goal of detecting and localizing cancer, when it is still small enough to be removed surgically, remains the rare exception to the general rule.