Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) and Hepatic Metastasis in Colorectal Cancer: Update on Biomarker for Clinical and Biotechnological Approaches.

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a prognostic marker in colorectal cancer (CRC) for tumor diagnosis and monitoring response to therapy. High CEA levels are specifically associated with CRC progression and liver metastasis. Due to its differential expression between cancer and healthy tissues, and between positive and negative lymph nodes CEA has been explored for new cancer therapy and diagnosis approaches. We revised the literature on CEA role in CRC as well as the patents relating to CEA targeting for cancer management. As far as we know this is the first report on CEA that addresses patents database. CEA seems to be a very promising targeting biomarker for multiple biotechnological applications. Patent data have suggested a variety of approaches for CEA targeting in oncology such as imaging and diagnosis, radio and immunotherapy, drug delivery systems and theragnostic devices.