What is HE4 tumor marker?

Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is a protein that is produced by most, but not all, epithelial ovarian cancer cells. This makes the test useful as a tumor marker in specific circumstances. The HE4 test measures the amount of human epididymis protein 4 in the blood.

What are tumor markers explain its classifications?

There are two main types of tumor markers: circulating tumor markers and tumor tissue markers. Circulating tumor markers can be found in the blood, urine, stool, or other bodily fluids of some patients with cancer. Circulating tumor markers are used to: estimate prognosis. determine the stage of cancer.

What are the most common tumor markers?

Tumor Markers in Common Use

  • ALK gene rearrangements and overexpression.
  • Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)
  • B-cell immunoglobulin gene rearrangement.
  • BCL2 gene rearrangement.
  • Beta-2-microglobulin (B2M)
  • Beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (Beta-hCG)
  • Bladder Tumor Antigen (BTA)
  • BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations.

What is the ideal Tumour marker?

The three most important characteristics of an ideal tumor marker are (a) it should be highly specific to a given tumor type, (b) it should provide a lead-time over clinical diagnosis and (c) it should be highly sensitive to avoid false positive results.

What is a good HE4 level?

Results. HE4 reference limit for healthy patients equals 85 pmol/l, which becomes 73 pmol/l and 93 pmol/l for pre and postmenopausal subgroups, respectively. There is a statistically significant correlation between HE4 serum level and smoking ( ) and there is no correlation with creatinine.

What does a high HE4 level mean?

Increased CA-125 without HE4 elevation is specifically indicative of advanced endometriosis or ovarian endometrioma. On the other hand, elevated HE4 with normal CA-125 may suggest the presence of either ovarian or other types of cancers, including EC [73].