What is CEA?

CEA, also known as CeA, is a tumor-associated antigen extracted from colon cancer and embryonic tissue. It is an acidic glycoprotein with human embryonic antigen characteristics. It exists in endoderm cells and is a structural protein of cell membrane. It is formed in cytoplasm, secreted outside cells through cell membrane, and then enters surrounding body fluids. In recent years, clinical practice has found that CeA values are not only increased in colon cancer, rectal cancer, gastrointestinal tract, breast cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, and other malignant tumors, so it is a broad-spectrum tumor marker, which can be used for auxiliary diagnosis and differential diagnosis of tumors, and evaluation of effects after treatment. At present, it is widely used in routine examination and diagnosis of clinical tumors.