CA 125
and Eva Rudolf-Müller, doctorEva Rudolf-Müller is a freelance writer in the medical team. She studied human medicine and newspaper sciences and has repeatedly worked in both areas - as a doctor in the clinic, as a reviewer, and as a medical journalist for various specialist journals. She is currently working in online journalism, where a wide range of medicine is offered to everyone.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.The CA 125 is a laboratory value that increases especially with cancer. Therefore it is called a tumor marker or "cancer marker". The doctor often determines it for ovarian cancer (ovarian cancer). Read here which other diseases cause increased values and how reliable the CA-125 value is in diagnosing such diseases.
What exactly is the CA 125?
The tumor marker CA 125, short for cancer antigen 125, is a so-called monoclonal antibody. Biochemically, it is defined as a glycoprotein - it is therefore a protein with attached sugar residues. The doctor can determine CA 125 from blood plasma, blood serum and cerebral fluid (liquor).
Standard values for CA 125
|
Serum value CA 125 |
valuation |
|
<33 U / ml |
Normal range |
|
33-65 U / ml |
Border area |
|
> 65 U / ml |
diseased area |
When is the CA 125 increased?
The following cancers lead to increased CA 125 levels in blood serum or plasma:
- Ovarian cancer (ovarian cancer)
- Uterine lining cancer (endometrial cancer)
- Cervical cancer
- Breast cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Hepatocellular cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma)
- Biliary tract cancer
- Stomach cancer (gastric cancer)
- Colon cancer
- Lung cancer (bronchial carcinoma)
Some benign diseases can also increase the CA 125 value. These include, for example:
- acute inflammation of the adnexa (fallopian tubes and ovaries)
- Endometriosis (growths of the lining of the uterus outside the uterus)
- Inflammation of the peritoneum (peritonitis)
- Kidney failure
- Inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis)
- Gallstones (cholelithiasis)
- chronic liver diseases such as hepatitis or cirrhosis
In addition, there are slight increases in the tumor marker during pregnancy. In this context, this is completely normal and does not necessarily indicate an illness.
When is the CA 125 determined?
The doctor primarily determines the tumor marker if a patient is suspected of having cancer of the ovaries. Suspicious symptoms include abdominal pain, an increase in the size of the abdomen and fluid build-up in the abdominal cavity (ascites). The occurrence of ovarian cancer in the family, for example in siblings, mother or grandmother, also corroborates the suspicion.
How useful is the determination of the tumor marker?
The CA 125 is quite reliable in diagnosing ovarian cancer: in the early stages of the disease, up to 60 percent of the sick women show increased values, in the later stages in almost all. Therefore, in contrast to many other tumor markers, CA 125 is already useful for diagnostics.
However, especially in women before the menopause, false positive values are often found, i.e. increased values without a disease being present. That is why the doctor never makes the diagnosis of ovarian cancer solely on the basis of the increased tumor marker!
Apart from the diagnosis, the oncologist (cancer specialist) determines the tumor marker in the further course of the disease in patients with known ovarian cancer. By developing the CA 125 values, he can get an idea of the progression of the disease or the success of the ongoing therapy.
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