Abstract
Concerning the early detection of cancer, the use of circulating tumor markers (TM) has been one of the most intriguing designs because of its little harm for the patient, the use of high technology of epitope-specific monoclonal antibodies, highly sensitive determination by radio- or enzyme, fluorescent or luminescent immunoassays (detection limit lng-1 pg/ml), the availability of commercial kits, and cost-effective automization for high numbers of determinations in a very short time of 1–3 h. Yet these theoretical and practical advantages are in sharp contrast to the manifold disadvantages precluding TM from use in the early detection of cancer.
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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Lamerz, R. (1992). Introductory Remarks. In: Bannasch, P. (eds) Cancer Diagnosis. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76899-6_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76899-6_10
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