What is the Normal Range for Carbohydrate Antigen CA242?

Update Date: 2024-05-27 Source: Network

Cancer is a complex disease, and many cancers do not show obvious symptoms in the early stages, which poses great difficulty in diagnosis. To determine whether it is cancer, many professional examination methods are required, and tumor markers are an important one. Carbohydrate antigen CA242 is a tumor marker, and many people are concerned about the normal value of carbohydrate antigen CA242. So, what is the normal value of carbohydrate antigen CA242?

1. What is the normal value of carbohydrate antigen CA242? The normal value of CA242 is less than 20. CA242 is a mucin-type antigen that can be used as a good tumor marker for pancreatic cancer and colon cancer. Its sensitivity is similar to CA199, but its specificity and diagnostic efficiency are better than CA199. CA242 is a sialylated glycosphingolipid antigen that is almost always expressed together with CA50, but they are recognized by different monoclonal antibodies. Both are clinically used for the diagnosis of malignant tumors of the digestive tract, especially pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer. Compared with CA199 and CA50, the new generation of CA242 has higher sensitivity and specificity in pancreatic cancer, gallbladder cancer, and gastrointestinal cancer.

2. Main functions of carbohydrate antigen CA242 Tumor markers are chemical substances that reflect the presence of tumors. They may not exist in normal adult tissues but are only found in embryonic tissues, or their content in tumor tissues greatly exceeds that in normal tissues. Their presence or quantitative changes can indicate the nature of the tumor, helping to understand the tissue genesis, cell differentiation, and cell function of the tumor, and assist in the diagnosis, classification, prognostic judgment, and treatment guidance of the tumor. Immunochemical studies have shown that it is different from other known tumor-related mucins such as CA199, CA50, CA125, CA153, etc. The content in the serum of healthy people and those with benign diseases is relatively low. CA242 is a relatively new tumor marker applied in clinical practice in recent years, and a good tumor marker for pancreatic cancer and colon cancer. CA242 is a sialylated glycosphingolipid antigen that is almost always expressed together with CA50, but they are recognized by different monoclonal antibodies. Both are clinically used for the diagnosis of malignant tumors of the digestive tract, especially pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer. Compared with CA19-9 and CA50, the new generation of CA242 has higher sensitivity and specificity in pancreatic cancer, gallbladder cancer, and gastrointestinal cancer (CA50 and CA19-9 are susceptible to the influence of liver function and bile stasis, and often show false positives in benign obstructive jaundice and liver parenchymal damage).