Breast cancer is one of the common malignant tumors in women, and the incidence of breast cancer is increasing, posing a serious threat to women’s health. Moreover, more and more young women are also suffering from this disease. In addition to self-examination, we also need to go to the hospital for regular checks. The diagnosis of breast cancer mainly includes understanding the medical history, X-ray examination, CT examination, and biopsy. Since the cause of this disease is not very clear at present, early treatment is an important factor affecting the prognosis. Now we find that the examination of some tumor markers is of great significance in early diagnosis and prognosis estimation. Today, we will briefly introduce what breast cancer tumor markers are.

Common breast cancer tumor markers

1. Blood cell cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3)

In the initial diagnosis test, blood cell cancer antigen is a common benign and malignant breast disease marker, which has great significance for the diagnosis of this disease. Doctors usually ask patients to check the blood cell cancer antigen first, and then compare it with the values after surgery. If the value is significantly reduced after surgery compared to the abnormal elevated value before surgery, then this marker can reflect the patient’s condition.

2. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)

This belongs to a common fetal embryo antigen, mainly present in the endothelial cells of the digestive system. In the late stage of the embryo and after the baby is born, the antigen will gradually disappear. If one has cancer, the antigen will reappear.

3. Blood cell cancer antigen 125 (CA125)

Blood cell cancer antigen is also a uterine and ovarian-related antigen, which is most commonly found in malignant tumors such as endometrial cancer and breast cancer. Although its sensitivity to breast cancer is not as high as that of ovarian cancer, we can still integrate other tumor markers for joint diagnosis, which can improve the accuracy of diagnosis of breast cancer.

4. Blood cell cancer antigen 19-9 (CA19-9)

CA19-9 shows abnormal elevation in pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, and other gastrointestinal cancers, as well as breast cancer. We need to be coordinated with other tumor markers for diagnosis.

Now we should understand what breast cancer tumor markers are, some markers may not be very sensitive for the diagnosis of the disease, but we can completely integrate other markers for comprehensive diagnosis. Perhaps many people are not very familiar with this kind of marker, in fact, everyone just needs to go to the hospital for regular checks, and if there is a problem, the doctor will also inform the patient.