?:definition
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Immunoassay reagents intended to perform qualitative and/or quantitative analyses of a sample of body fluids (e.g., blood) to determine proteins normally produced during fetal life (oncofetal antigens); the reappearance of these proteins after birth in cancer patients demonstrate that a malignant transformation of cells has reactivated one or more genes. Oncofetal antigens are used as tumor markers; they include carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen, and tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA).
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