Markers of tumor burden : an overview

Since ancient times, cancer has been known to humankind. The ancient Greeks and Romans have left us with writings in which various treatment options are discussed (1). Disease processes and causes were not well understood, however; the humoral pathology established by the ancient Greeks of the school of Galen in the second century ad was to survive virtually intact until the mid-nineteenth century. It is perhaps all the more remarkable then, that the first tumor marker-Bence Jones' protein in multiple myeloma-should come to light in what was still by and large the prescientific medical culture prevailing in 1845.