Los MARCADORES TUMORALES EN CÁNCER TESTICULAR: UTILIDAD CLÍNICA Y LIMITACIONES

Gonadotropina Coriónica Humana como marcador tumoral de Cáncer testicular

Abstract

Serum biomarkers such as alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), human chorionic gonadotropin (?-hCG), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) have been used for the clinical diagnosis, staging, and monitoring of patients with confirmed testicular cancer. Therefore, this literature review aimed to analyze the clinical utility of these three biomarkers, compare them, and identify their limitations as confirmatory tests for testicular cancer. This was made possible by a methodology based on a literature review using databases such as PubMed, SciELO, and ScienceDirect, which provide indexed articles. To reduce bias, inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, and the selected articles were reviewed. The findings indicate that ?-hCG is the most sensitive of the three biomarkers; however, it still has limitations. The use of all three biomarkers, along with ultrasound imaging, allows for a more accurate diagnosis of cancer. In staging, its integration with the IGCCCG system allows for patient stratification according to risk and guides therapeutic decisions based on the magnitude of the serum elevation. In follow-up, it is useful for monitoring treatment response and detecting relapses. However, significant limitations were also identified because the cancer can present as seminoma and non-seminoma, which can cause alterations in biomarkers since AFP is only elevated in non-seminoma, while the other two markers decrease their sensitivity in pure seminoma cancer.