No correlation between tumor markers and prognosis under polygenic control systems

Tumor markers in serum should not be correlated with the prognosis of patients with malignant tumors, although the markers indicate the presence of tumors, since marker levels and prognosis are controlled independently by poly-genes. Furthermore, prognostic factors, including incidence of pulmonary metastasis, tumor growth rate, tumor drug sensitivity and host response, vary among patients. In general, tumor markers may be used to demonstrate response of tumor to treatments only when expression of the markers does not change in a time-dependent manner.