tumor is responding to treatment completely or partially. Studies in the United States use this information to plan for aggressive chemotherapy combined with autologous bone marrow transplantation.

Markers and Particular Tumor Types  Seminoma can have HCG and LDH, and about 80 percent of men with non-seminomatous germ cell cancer have an abnormality in one or more of the three markers.

HCG  About 10 percent of patients with pure seminoma have a high HCG level, but never to the extent observed for those with choriocarcinoma or embryonal cell carcinoma .
    HCG is produced by embryonal cells , by choriocarcinoma and by a tissue called syncytiotrophoblast found in seminomas, as well as in the normal placenta during pregnancy. In fact, HCG is used for pregnancy tests because it increases early within the first trimester.
    It is a rather specific testis tumor marker associated with breast enlargement and nipple tenderness in males when markedly increased. Some unusual lung, liver and pancreatic cancers also can increase HCG levels although these are uncommon. One caution in using this marker is that marijuana smokers have increased HCG blood levels. So marijuana should not be used as an antinausea drug, since elevations that are not tumor-related may confuse physicians evaluating their patients after chemotherapy.