M2-PK, as measured in feces, is a potential tumor marker for colorectal cancer. When measured in feces with a cutoff value of 4 U/ml, its sensitivity has been estimated to be 85% (with a 95% confidence interval of 65 to 96%) for colon cancer and 56% (confidence interval 41–74%) for rectal cancer. Its specificity is 95%.
The M2-PK test is not dependent on occult blood (ELISA method), so it can detect bleeding or non-bleeding bowel cancer and also polyps with high sensitivity and high specificity with no false negative, but false positives may occur.
Most people are more willing to accept non-invasive preventive medical check-ups. Therefore, the measurement of tumor M2-PK in stool samples, with follow-up by colonoscopy to clarify the tumor M2-PK positive results, may prove to be an advance in the early detection of colorectal carcinomas. The CE marked M2-PK Test is available in form of an ELISA test for quantitative results or as point of care test to receive results within minutes.
Tumor M2-PK is also useful to diagnose lung cancer and better than SCC and NSE tumor markers. With renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the M2PK test has sensitivity of 66.7 percent for metastatic RCC and 27.5 percent for nonmetastatic RCC, but M2PK test cannot detect transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder, prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia.