Effusion carcinoembryonic antigen

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was originally found in adult colon cancer tissues. It is an acidic glycoprotein with human embryonic determinants, with a molecular weight of 200kD. The embryonic stage is mainly in the fetal gastrointestinal tube, pancreas and liver. The post-tissue content is very low. In 1965, Golo first extracted CEA from fetal intestinal tissue and colon tissue. CEA from different tissues has different sugar contents. Serum CEA is elevated in gastrointestinal malignancies, and it is also elevated in patients with breast cancer, lung cancer and other malignancies. Therefore, CEA is a broad-spectrum tumor marker. Although it cannot be used as a specific indicator for the diagnosis of certain malignant tumors, it still has important value in the differential diagnosis of malignant tumors, monitoring of disease conditions, and evaluation of therapeutic effects.