Table 1.

List of common serological tumor markers in clinical use that contain a glycan component^a

Biomarker	Type of detection	Cancer type(s)	Clinical applications	References
AFP	Protein and core fucosylation (for AFP-L3)	Germ-cell hepatoma; non-seminomatous testicular carcinoma	Diagnosis, staging. detecting recurrence, monitoring therapy	[153,154]
hCG	Protein alone	Testicular	Diagnosis;staging; detecting recurrence; monitoring therapy	[154,155]
CA125	Protein alone	Ovarian	Prognosis; detecting recurrence; monitoring therapy	[154,156]
CA15-3	Sialylated O-glycan on MUC1	Breast	Monitoring therapy	[157-159]
CA19-9	SLe on mucin glycoproteins and gangliosidesa	Pancreatic	Monitoring therapy	[160,161]
CEA	Protein alone	Colon	Detecting recurrence; monitoring therapy	[154,157,161]
HER2	Protein alone	Breast	Therapy selection	[157,162,163]
PSA	Protein alone	Prostate	Screening; diagnosis (with digital rectal examination)	[154,164]
Thyroglobulin	Protein alone	Thyroid	Monitoring	[165,166]
CA27-29	MUC1 protein alone	Breast	Monitoring	[161,167]

^aModified and adapted from Kulasingam and Diamandis [168]. AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; CA, carcinoma antigen 15-3; CA 19-9, carbohydrate antigen 19-9; CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen; HER, herceptin; hCG, human chorionic gonadotropin; MRM, multiple reaction monitoring; PSA, prostate-specific antigen; SLe, sialyl Lewis antigen.