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Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a glycoprotein involved in cell adhesion. It is normally produced during fetal development, but the production of CEA stops before birth. Therefore, it is not usually present in the blood of healthy adults, although levels are raised in heavy smokers.
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History
CEA was first identified in 1965 by Phil Gold and Samuel O. Freedman in human colon cancer tissue extracts.1
Uses
It was found that serum from individuals with colorectal carcinoma,2 gastric carcinoma, pancreatic carcinoma, lung carcinoma and breast carcinoma, as well as individuals with medullary thyroid carcinoma, had higher levels of CEA than healthy individuals.
CEA measurement is mainly used as a tumor marker to identify recurrences after surgical resection. Elevated CEA levels should return to normal after surgical resection, as elevation of CEA during follow up is an indicator of recurrence of tumour.
CEA levels may also be raised in some non-neoplastic conditions like ulcerative colitis, pancreatitis and cirrhosis.
Genetics
CEA and related genes make up the CEA family belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily. In humans, the carcinoembryonic antigen family consists of 29 genes, 18 of which are normally expressed.3
The following is a list of human genes which encode carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion proteins:
CEACAM1, CEACAM3, CEACAM4, CEACAM5, CEACAM6, CEACAM7, CEACAM8, CEACAM16, CEACAM18, CEACAM19, CEACAM20, CEACAM21
References
- ^ Gold P, Freedman SO. Demonstration of tumor-specific antigens in human colonic carcinomata by immunological tolerance and absorption techniques. J Exp Med 1965;121:439. PMID 14270243.
- ^ "Cancer Diagnosis - Information About Cancer - Stanford Cancer Center". Retrieved on 2008-10-15.
- ^ Hammarstrom S. The carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) family: structures, suggested functions and expression in normal and malignant tissues. Semin Cancer Biol 1999;9:67-81. PMID 10202129.
External links
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 15 October 2008, at 08:41.
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