LDH This hormone—more specifically LDH-1, since there are five LDH enzymes—is increased in more than half of men with seminoma, but it is not as specific for testis cancer as HCG and AFP.
AFP This is called an oncofetal protein because it originates from the fetal liver and gastrointestinal tract and from the yolk sac of the embryo. AFP increases in a mother's blood during the second and third trimesters and disappears from a baby's bloodstream shortly after birth. AFP is found in 20 to 70 percent of testis tumor cases. Repeated AFP testing is sufficiently accurate to monitor yolk sac tumors in 90 percent of children. [It is also seen in 70 percent of patients with a primary liver cancer (hepatoma).]
New markers are being evaluated; none have proved accurate.
