What are lymphoma tumor markers, or CD markers?Why are they important and how do they play a role in the treatment of lymphomas?
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The Importance of CD Lymphoma Markers
Determining CD markers on lymphomas is critical in selecting the best treatments for these diseases, but has not always been available. Let’s take a look at the history in order to understand the importance of these tests in determining the best treatment for yourcancer.
Why Lymphoma Markers Are Important
Try to imagine a single type of cell giving rise to nearly thirty different types of cancer - all with one name. Different lymphomas may be present in your lymph nodes, as a mass in your brain, as a disease of your stomach, or as lesions all over your skin. It’s not simply a matter of location - a lymphoma found in any of these locations could be one of many types. And choosing the best treatment depends on knowing the specific type.
The Microscope Isn’t Enough to Diagnose Lymphomas
Even a couple of decades back, what thepathologistsaw under the microscope with simple stains was all that we had to identify the type of lymphoma. And there were only a few types of lymphoma that could be distinguished. However, it often turned out that the behavior of the same type of tumor was different in different individuals. Clearly, we were missing something.
The Clue Is in the Molecules
As medicine moved from cells to molecules, techniques were devised to identify some specific molecules that were found on the surface of cells. When these were applied to lymphoma cells, things took a dramatic turn. It turned out that lymphomas were not simply a handful of different types, but a lot more complicated.
What Are Lymphoma CD Markers?
On the surface of lymphocytes, the cells that are transformed to lymphomas, lie some unique molecules. These were named’cluster differentiation' or CD markers.As normal lymphocytes develop from new cells to mature cells, these markers change. It was found that lymphomas that previously looked similar under the microscope had different markers on their surface. When that happened, they acted like different diseases altogether.
Lymphoma CD Markers in Diagnosis
Today, the diagnosis of lymphoma simply isn’t complete unless a couple of lymphoma markers are first identified. To put a particular lymphoma in the proper group,immunohistochemistry is used to detect these specific molecules on cellsof biopsy samples.
We now have specific drugs that attack CD molecules on the surface of some lymphoma cells. These medications -termed monoclonal antibodies- attack only cells that have a particular CD marker.
A specific example can make this much easier to understand. With lymphomas, it can be difficult if not impossible to tell the difference between a few cancer types. Some lymphomas are B cell lymphomas and some are T cell lymphomas, but B cells and T cells can look identical under the microscope.Though they look identical, cancers involving these cells can behave very differently and respond differently to different medications.
Lymphoma Markers in Determining Treatment and Prognosis
It doesn’t stop there. Some special markers (one of them called bcl-2)can even tell the doctor how well your disease will fare. Some others (like CD20)are a pointer to whether a particular treatment will work.Examples of CD markerstargeted in lymphoma treatment include the monoclonal antibody Rituxan (rituximab) which targets the CD20 antigen present on the surface of some lymphoma cells as well as some chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells.
As more and more research goes into these markers, new uses are coming up all the time.
6 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Armengol M, Santos JC, Fernández-Serrano M, Profitós-Pelejà N, Ribeiro ML, Roué G.Immune-checkpoint inhibitors in B-cell lymphoma.Cancers. 2021;13(2):214. doi:10.3390/cancers13020214Kalina T, Fišer K, Pérez-Andrés M, et al.CD maps—dynamic profiling of CD1–CD100 surface expression on human leukocyte and lymphocyte subsets.Front Immunol. 2019;10:2434. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2019.02434Amatya B, Khan F, Lew Te, Dickinson M.Rehabilitation in patients with lymphoma: An overview of systematic reviews.J Rehabil Med. 2021;53(3):2769. doi:10.2340/16501977-2810Sun R, Medeiros LJ, Young KH.Diagnostic and predictive biomarkers for lymphoma diagnosis and treatment in the era of precision medicine.Mod Pathol. 2016;29(10):1118-1142. doi:10.1038/modpathol.2016.92Banjara S, Suraweera CD, Hinds MG, Kvansakul M.The bcl-2 family: Ancient origins, conserved structures, and divergent mechanisms.Biomolecules. 2020;10(1):128. doi:10.3390/biom10010128Pavlasova G, Mraz M.The regulation and function of CD20: An “enigma” of B-cell biology and targeted therapy.Haematologica. 2020;105(6):1494-1506. doi:10.3324/haematol.2019.243543Additional ReadingNational Cancer Institute.Tumor markers.
6 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Armengol M, Santos JC, Fernández-Serrano M, Profitós-Pelejà N, Ribeiro ML, Roué G.Immune-checkpoint inhibitors in B-cell lymphoma.Cancers. 2021;13(2):214. doi:10.3390/cancers13020214Kalina T, Fišer K, Pérez-Andrés M, et al.CD maps—dynamic profiling of CD1–CD100 surface expression on human leukocyte and lymphocyte subsets.Front Immunol. 2019;10:2434. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2019.02434Amatya B, Khan F, Lew Te, Dickinson M.Rehabilitation in patients with lymphoma: An overview of systematic reviews.J Rehabil Med. 2021;53(3):2769. doi:10.2340/16501977-2810Sun R, Medeiros LJ, Young KH.Diagnostic and predictive biomarkers for lymphoma diagnosis and treatment in the era of precision medicine.Mod Pathol. 2016;29(10):1118-1142. doi:10.1038/modpathol.2016.92Banjara S, Suraweera CD, Hinds MG, Kvansakul M.The bcl-2 family: Ancient origins, conserved structures, and divergent mechanisms.Biomolecules. 2020;10(1):128. doi:10.3390/biom10010128Pavlasova G, Mraz M.The regulation and function of CD20: An “enigma” of B-cell biology and targeted therapy.Haematologica. 2020;105(6):1494-1506. doi:10.3324/haematol.2019.243543Additional ReadingNational Cancer Institute.Tumor markers.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Armengol M, Santos JC, Fernández-Serrano M, Profitós-Pelejà N, Ribeiro ML, Roué G.Immune-checkpoint inhibitors in B-cell lymphoma.Cancers. 2021;13(2):214. doi:10.3390/cancers13020214Kalina T, Fišer K, Pérez-Andrés M, et al.CD maps—dynamic profiling of CD1–CD100 surface expression on human leukocyte and lymphocyte subsets.Front Immunol. 2019;10:2434. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2019.02434Amatya B, Khan F, Lew Te, Dickinson M.Rehabilitation in patients with lymphoma: An overview of systematic reviews.J Rehabil Med. 2021;53(3):2769. doi:10.2340/16501977-2810Sun R, Medeiros LJ, Young KH.Diagnostic and predictive biomarkers for lymphoma diagnosis and treatment in the era of precision medicine.Mod Pathol. 2016;29(10):1118-1142. doi:10.1038/modpathol.2016.92Banjara S, Suraweera CD, Hinds MG, Kvansakul M.The bcl-2 family: Ancient origins, conserved structures, and divergent mechanisms.Biomolecules. 2020;10(1):128. doi:10.3390/biom10010128Pavlasova G, Mraz M.The regulation and function of CD20: An “enigma” of B-cell biology and targeted therapy.Haematologica. 2020;105(6):1494-1506. doi:10.3324/haematol.2019.243543
Armengol M, Santos JC, Fernández-Serrano M, Profitós-Pelejà N, Ribeiro ML, Roué G.Immune-checkpoint inhibitors in B-cell lymphoma.Cancers. 2021;13(2):214. doi:10.3390/cancers13020214
Kalina T, Fišer K, Pérez-Andrés M, et al.CD maps—dynamic profiling of CD1–CD100 surface expression on human leukocyte and lymphocyte subsets.Front Immunol. 2019;10:2434. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2019.02434
Amatya B, Khan F, Lew Te, Dickinson M.Rehabilitation in patients with lymphoma: An overview of systematic reviews.J Rehabil Med. 2021;53(3):2769. doi:10.2340/16501977-2810
Sun R, Medeiros LJ, Young KH.Diagnostic and predictive biomarkers for lymphoma diagnosis and treatment in the era of precision medicine.Mod Pathol. 2016;29(10):1118-1142. doi:10.1038/modpathol.2016.92
Banjara S, Suraweera CD, Hinds MG, Kvansakul M.The bcl-2 family: Ancient origins, conserved structures, and divergent mechanisms.Biomolecules. 2020;10(1):128. doi:10.3390/biom10010128
Pavlasova G, Mraz M.The regulation and function of CD20: An “enigma” of B-cell biology and targeted therapy.Haematologica. 2020;105(6):1494-1506. doi:10.3324/haematol.2019.243543
National Cancer Institute.Tumor markers.
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