Tumor Marker Tests in Common Use

A tumor marker is anything present in or produced by cancer cells or other cells of the body in response to cancer or certain benign (noncancerous) conditions that provides information about a cancer, such as how aggressive it is, whether it can be treated with a targeted therapy, or whether it is responding to treatment. See the Tumor Markers page for more information.

Listed below are tumor marker tests that are in common use, mainly to determine treatment or to help make a diagnosis of cancer. This list is not comprehensive; in particular, new tumor markers frequently become available and may not be included.

This list also does not include the many tumor markers that are tested by immunophenotyping and immunohistochemistry to help diagnose cancer and to distinguish between different types of cancer.

Some tumor markers listed below are targets for targeted therapy in multiple cancers but serve as tumor markers for only a subset of cancers. For each test, the main cancer types that it is used for are listed. Some markers may be used for other cancer types that are not listed. 

ALK gene rearrangements and overexpression

Cancer types or cancer-like conditions: Non-small cell lung cancer, anaplastic large cell lymphoma, histiocytosis
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment and prognosis

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)

Cancer types: Liver cancer, ovarian cancer, and germ cell tumors
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help diagnose these cancers and follow response to treatment; to assess stage, prognosis, and response to treatment of germ cell tumors

B-cell immunoglobulin gene rearrangement

Cancer type: B-cell lymphoma
What's analyzed: Blood, bone marrow, or tumor tissue
How used: To help in diagnosis, to evaluate effectiveness of treatment, and to check for recurrence

BCL2 gene rearrangement

Cancer types: Lymphomas, leukemias
What’s analyzed: Blood, bone marrow, or tumor tissue
How used: For diagnosis and planning therapy

BCR-ABL fusion gene (Philadelphia chromosome)

Cancer types: Chronic myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and acute myelogenous leukemia
What's analyzed: Blood or bone marrow
How used: To confirm diagnosis, predict response to targeted therapy, help determine treatment, and monitor disease status

Beta-2-microglobulin (B2M)

Cancer types: Multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and some lymphomas
What's analyzed: Blood, urine, or cerebrospinal fluid
How used: To determine prognosis and follow response to treatment

Beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (Beta-hCG)

Cancer types: Choriocarcinoma and germ cell tumors
What's analyzed: Urine or blood
How used: To assess stage, prognosis, and response to treatment

Bladder Tumor Antigen (BTA)

Cancer types: Bladder cancer and cancer of the kidney or ureter
What's analyzed: Urine
How used: As surveillance with cytology and cystoscopy of patients already known to have bladder cancer

BRAF V600 mutations

Cancer types or cancer-like conditions: Thyroid cancer, melanoma, ovarian cancer, Erdheim-Chester disease, Langerhans cell histiocytosis, hairy cell leukemia, colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and some other cancer types
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations

Cancer types: Breast, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate cancers
What's analyzed: Blood and/or tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

CA15-3/CA27.29

Cancer type: Breast cancer
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To assess whether treatment is working or if the cancer has recurred

CA19-9

Cancer types: Pancreatic, gallbladder, bile duct, and gastric cancers
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To assess whether treatment is working

CA-125

Cancer type: Ovarian cancer
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help in diagnosis, assessment of response to treatment, and evaluation of recurrence

CA 27.29

Cancer type: Breast cancer
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To detect metastasis or recurrence

Calcitonin

Cancer type: Medullary thyroid cancer
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To aid in diagnosis, check whether treatment is working, and assess recurrence

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)

Cancer types: Colorectal cancer and some other cancers
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To check effect of treatment and detect recurrence

CD19

Cancer types: B-cell lymphomas and leukemias 
What's analyzed: Blood and bone marrow
How used: To help in diagnosis and to help determine treatment 

CD20

Cancer type: Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help determine treatment

CD22

Cancer types: B-cell lymphomas and leukemias 
What's analyzed: Blood and bone marrow
How used: To help in diagnosis and to help determine treatment 

CD25

Cancer type: Non-Hodgkin (T-cell) lymphoma
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help determine treatment

CD30

Cancer types: Classic Hodgkin lymphoma, B-cell and T-cell lymphomas 
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

CD33

Cancer type: Acute myeloid leukemia
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help determine treatment

Chromogranin A (CgA)

Cancer type: Neuroendocrine tumors
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help in diagnosis, assessment of treatment response, and evaluation of recurrence

Chromosome 17p deletion

Cancer type: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help in diagnosis and to determine treatment

Chromosomes 3, 7, 17, and 9p21

Cancer type: Bladder cancer
What's analyzed: Urine
How used: To help in monitoring for tumor recurrence

Circulating tumor cells of epithelial origin (CELLSEARCH)

Cancer types: Metastatic breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To inform clinical decision making, and to assess prognosis

C-kit/CD117

Cancer types: Gastrointestinal stromal tumor, mucosal melanoma, acute myeloid leukemia, and mast cell disease
What's analyzed: Tumor, blood, or bone marrow
How used: To help in diagnosis and to help determine treatment 

Cyclin D1 (CCND1) gene rearrangement or expression

Cancer types: Lymphoma, myeloma
What’s analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help in diagnosis

Cytokeratin fragment 21-1

Cancer type: Lung cancer
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help in monitoring for recurrence

Des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin (DCP)

Cancer type: Hepatocellular carcinoma
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To monitor the effectiveness of treatment and to detect recurrence

DPD gene mutation

Cancer types: Breast, colorectal, gastric, and pancreatic cancers
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To predict the risk of a toxic reaction to 5-fluorouracil therapy

EGFR 

Cancer types: Non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment and prognosis

ESR1 gene mutation

Cancer type: Breast cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

Estrogen receptor (ER)/progesterone receptor (PR)

Cancer type: Breast cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

FGFR2 and FGFR3 gene mutations

Cancer types: Bladder cancer and cholangiocarcinoma
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

Fibrin/fibrinogen

Cancer type: Bladder cancer
What's analyzed: Urine
How used: To monitor progression and response to treatment

5-HIAA

Cancer type: Carcinoid tumors
What's analyzed: Urine
How used: To help in diagnosis and to monitor disease

5-Protein signature (OVA1)

Cancer type: Ovarian cancer
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To pre-operatively assess pelvic mass for suspected ovarian cancer

FLT3 gene mutations

Cancer type: Acute myeloid leukemia
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help determine treatment and prognosis

46-Gene signature (Prolaris)

Cancer type: Prostate cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To predict the aggressiveness of prostate cancer and to help manage treatment

FoundationOne CDx (F1CDx) genomic test

Cancer type: Any solid tumor
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: As a companion diagnostic test to determine the appropriateness of treatment with specific targeted therapies and for general tumor mutation profiling

FoundationOne Liquid CDx 

Cancer type: Any solid tumor
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: As a companion diagnostic test to determine the appropriateness of treatment with specific targeted therapies and for general tumor mutation profiling

Gastrin

Cancer type: Gastrin-producing tumor (gastrinoma)
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help in diagnosis, to monitor the effectiveness of treatment, and to detect recurrence

Guardant360 CDx genomic test

Cancer type: Any solid tumor
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: As a companion diagnostic test to determine treatment and for general tumor mutation profiling

HE4

Cancer type: Ovarian cancer
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To plan cancer treatment, assess disease progression, and monitor for recurrence

HER2/neu (ERBB2) gene amplification, mutations, protein overexpression

Cancer types: Breast, ovarian, bladder, pancreatic, non-small cell lung, gastroesophageal, and stomach cancers
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

IDH1 and IDH2 gene mutations

Cancer types: Acute myeloid leukemia, cholangiocarcinoma, and glioma
What's analyzed: Bone marrow, tissue, or blood
How used: To help determine treatment

Immunoglobulins

Cancer types: Multiple myeloma and Waldenström macroglobulinemia
What's analyzed: Blood and urine
How used: To help diagnose disease, assess response to treatment, and look for recurrence

IRF4 gene rearrangement

Cancer type: Lymphoma
What’s analyzed: Tumor 
How used: To help in diagnosis

JAK2 gene mutation

Cancer type: Certain types of leukemia
What's analyzed: Blood and bone marrow
How used: To help in diagnosis

KRAS gene mutation

Cancer types: Colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor, plasma
How used: To help determine treatment

Lactate dehydrogenase

Cancer types: Germ cell tumors, lymphoma, leukemia, melanoma, and neuroblastoma
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To assess stage, prognosis, and response to treatment

Microsatellite instability (MSI) and/or mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR) 

Cancer types: Colorectal cancer, endometrial carcinoma, and other solid tumors
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To guide treatment and to identify those at high risk of having inherited certain cancer-predisposing syndromes

MYC gene expression

Cancer types: Lymphomas, leukemias
What’s analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help in diagnosis and to help determine treatment

MYD88 gene mutation

Cancer types: Lymphoma, Waldenström macroglobulinemia
What’s analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help in diagnosis and to help determine treatment

Myeloperoxidase (MPO)

Cancer type: Leukemia
What’s analyzed: Blood
How used: To help in diagnosis

Neuron-specific enolase (NSE)

Cancer types: Small cell lung cancer and neuroblastoma
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help in diagnosis and to assess response to treatment

NTRK gene fusion

Cancer type: Any solid tumor
What’s analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

Nuclear matrix protein 22

Cancer type: Bladder cancer
What's analyzed: Urine
How used: To monitor response to treatment

PCA3 mRNA

Cancer type: Prostate cancer
What's analyzed: Urine (collected after digital rectal exam)
How used: To determine need for repeat biopsy after negative biopsy

PIK3CA gene mutation status

Cancer types: Breast cancer, colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and ovarian cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To assess the likely course of the disease (prognosis) and to determine the appropriateness of treatment with specific targeted therapies

PML/RARα fusion gene

Cancer type: Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL)
What's analyzed: Blood and bone marrow
How used: To diagnose APL, to predict response to all-trans-retinoic acid or arsenic trioxide therapy, to assess effectiveness of therapy, to monitor minimal residual disease, and to predict early relapse

Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1)

Cancer types: Non-small cell lung cancer,  triple-negative breast cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, cervical cancer, bladder cancer, head and neck cancer, and classical Hodgkin lymphoma and other aggressive lymphoma subtypes
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA)

Cancer type: Prostate cancer
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help in diagnosis, to assess response to treatment, and to look for recurrence

Prostatic Acid Phosphatase (PAP)

Cancer type: Metastatic prostate cancer
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help in diagnosing poorly differentiated carcinomas

RET gene fusions and mutations

Cancer type: Medullary thyroid cancer, thyroid cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

ROS1 gene rearrangement

Cancer type: Non-small cell lung cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

17-Gene signature (Oncotype DX GPS test)

Cancer type: Prostate cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To predict the aggressiveness of prostate cancer and to help manage treatment

70-Gene signature (Mammaprint)

Cancer type: Breast cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To evaluate the risk of recurrence

Soluble mesothelin-related peptides (SMRP)

Cancer type: Mesothelioma
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To monitor progression or recurrence

Somatostatin receptor

Cancer type: Neuroendocrine tumors affecting the pancreas or gastrointestinal tract (GEP-NETs)
What's analyzed: Tumor (by diagnostic imaging)
How used: To help determine treatment

T-cell receptor gene rearrangement

Cancer type: T-cell lymphoma
What's analyzed: Bone marrow, tissue (e.g., lymph node), and blood
How used: To help in diagnosis and to detect and evaluate residual disease

Terminal transferase (TdT)

Cancer types: Leukemia, lymphoma
What’s analyzed: Tumor, blood
How used: To help in diagnosis

Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) enzyme activity or TPMT genetic test

Cancer type: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
What's analyzed: Blood and buccal (cheek) swab
How used: To predict the risk of severe bone marrow toxicity (myelosuppression) with thiopurine treatment

Thyroglobulin

Cancer type: Thyroid cancer
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To evaluate response to treatment and to look for recurrence

TP53 gene mutations

Cancer type: B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia
What's analyzed: Blood
How used: To help determine treatment and prognosis

Tumor mutational burden (TMB)

Cancer type: Solid tumors
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To help determine treatment

21-Gene signature (Oncotype DX)

Cancer type: Breast cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To evaluate the risk of distant recurrence and to help plan treatment

UGT1A1*28 variant homozygosity

Cancer type: Colorectal cancer
What's analyzed: Blood and buccal (cheek) swab
How used: To predict toxicity from irinotecan therapy

Urine catecholamines: VMA and HVA

Cancer type: Neuroblastoma
What's analyzed: Urine
How used: To help in diagnosis 

Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1)

Cancer type: Breast cancer
What's analyzed: Tumor
How used: To determine aggressiveness of cancer and guide treatment

This content is provided by the National Cancer Institute (www.cancer.gov)