News and Views on Tumor Markers

Summary

It was doubtless due to the phenomenal progress in the field of tumor immunology that took place during the last 20 years, that today we dispose not only of highly sensitive immunological tests like the RIA or EIA, but also of most specific reagents like monospecific polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. In this context the discovery in human carcinomas of tumor-associated antigens was of prime importance, especially since some of them were found to have clinical relevance as so-called tumor markers. It has been shown that there is a direct correlation between the absolute tumor burden and the blood concentration of these substances. Based on animal models a new technology for tumor and métastasés detection was developed in recent years, that used polyvalent or monoclonal antibodies prepared against tumor-associated antigens. This technique called radioimmuno-detection (RAID), especially in the hands of experts, may be superior in many instances to conventional radiology, radionuclide scanning or ultrasonographic techniques.

^* 3rd International Symposium on Radiopharmacology, Freiburg i. Br., September 1983.

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