I'm always curious about the cancer marker CA 15-3, which is supposedly a protein that is produced by normal breast cells.
According to my blood labs, the "normal range" for CA 15-3 is 0-20. Some of you fellow MBC sisters describe ranges in the 100's. When you are expressing your marker in the 100's, is the "normal range" 0-200? Therefore, is anything above 200 considered to be reason for concern? Would love an explanation!
God bless everyone on this journey we all share!
Linda
Thanks for your question! I really hope someone explains the meaning of their super high numbers. I asked one person, and she said that the normal range for her was 0-30 (as it is here in Saskatchewan) but she still gave her own reading as in the hundreds. I guess what we're mostly curious about is - how high can tumor markers go???
Yes, and is a different scale used around the world?
My labs show 30 to be the high end of normal (I’m in the PNW too). My 15-3 is 44 but trending down on Ibrance.
Hello, atoth17,
Where do you live in PNW? I am treated at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and was on Ibrance/Letrozole protocol for 32 months before mild progression. On Faslodex for past 8 months. It’s great to hear that your marker is dropping—may that continue for a long time!
God bless you! Enjoy our beautiful weather this week! So great to have the spring sunshine back!
💗💗🙏🏻🙏🏻
Linda
Hello,
I live over in Bremerton so I am getting my care at CHI Franciscan in Poulsbo. I saw Dr. Hunter at SCCA in February for a second opinion, I loved her but our insurance will not cover SCCA. I was just diagnosed in November so I am on cycle 5 of Ibrance. I think it is working, my CT scan was stable. I have the PIK3 mutation so Piqray will be next.
God bless you too! It's fun to connect with someone local. This weather is amazing!!
Allison
Hi, Allison!I grew up in Bremerton! Our home was located near Gorst, so my two sisters and I attended our school years in the South Kitsap school district. That area has grown so much since we lived there. All of us left the area after college and followed careers in teaching (for a while.) My twin sister and I both live in Seattle; and another sister (one year older) lives in Moses Lake. All three of us have had breast cancer, but only mine advanced to MBC.
I hope you are doing well and that you are stable for years to come!
God bless you! XXOO
Linda
What a small world! Things have definitely changed a lot around here. I am sorry to hear that all three of you have had BC. I am doing well and I sure hope that I can remain stable for years, this was definitely a surprise.
Allison
Yes, it's so shocking when you first hear that the cancer has metastasized. My BC diagnosis was in 2000; and the MBC wasn't diagnosed until November 2017. So, 17 years later, I figured I was home free--and then WHAM!! I was on Ibrance/Letrozole for 33 months before some mild progression. Now on Faslodex for the past 8 months.
The Ibrance definitely left me feeling fatigued--particularly in the first year of treatment. But it's a great drug that has helped keep many of us stable for a long time! God bless you, Allison!!
Linda
I was treated there too, my first time around in the 90s....I loved it! I’m getting good care in Baltimore too, but the SCCA has special place in my heart....my doctor was amazing.
So many connections among this great group of women who provide such encouragement and words of wisdom. I've never been to Baltimore, just nearby D.C. Hope you are having a beautiful spring!! The sun is shining here and temperatures expected to climb to 75 by the end of the week. These are the days that Seattleites cherish! God bless you! XXOO Linda
Yes, my friends have been complaining about the cold spring...they’re happy now! I am a native Baltimorean, but I really miss Seattle sometimes....I was there 20 years...but I have to reluctantly tell you that Baltimore is more beautiful than Seattle in the Spring....but oh, the mountains and the city...I loved it. I worked for Ivar’s for 15 years, and my husband for Microsoft....a real Seattle couple!I enjoy reading your posts...thanks so much for your reply!
Baltimore will now be on my travel wish list! So much history on the Eastern seaboard compared to West coast! XXOO
Hi Linda! Glad to see your post. Not that I have an answer for your ? since my onc doesn’t run that marker. Our Center just got an upgraded lab machine & for the first time ever he ran the CA-125 vs the CA 27-29. Interested to get his thoughts on this test as compares to the other & now want to know about the CA 15-3?
Pray you are doing well!! Becky
Hi, Becky! I see that Sandra provided a link below, with great info about the CA 15-3 tumor marker. Prayers for you, too! So far, holding stable on my second line of treatment (Faslodex). God bless you, sweet sister!XXOO Linda
Thanks, Sandra! I'll check it out. I think I got confused with the wide range of numbers and wondered if my scale was simply a factoring issue. Thank you!Linda
Hi, Sandra!I checked out your link. Oddly enough, just as Chris mentioned above, the info provided does not indicate what is considered a "normal range" nor how high this marker can actually reach? My lab considers 0-20 to be normal, while others have mentioned 0-30?
Linda
Excuse me, I meant Cindy, not Chris.
Hi Linda! I live in the UK and they dont really check CA15-3 here. I have asked my oncologist why not and she said its considered inaccurate.. hmm 🤔
Mine checks that every time and the downward trend seems to be significant. But I've been hearing recently that lots of these subtances in our bodies are individual. I was told my CA15--3 should be about 25. It started at 435 and is now 86. I wonder if it goes down steadily or peaks and troughs.
Hi Linda. I'm in the UK too. You can insist on getting the CA-15 test here. I get one every two months. The "normal" range is 0-30. Mine was 700 when I was first diagnosed with MBC and has gone down to 170 but is now on the up to 240. When my markers go down, the onc says it's heading in the right direction and the meds are working, but when they go up she says not worry about it. Go figure. Ask your onc for the test every couple of months. They really can't say no. Good luck!
Hi, Carol!I get my CA 15-3 checked every month. I think a lot of our oncologists use our markers as just a "guide." The real info is provided in those God-awful scans that stoke our shared anxiety. Good luck to you as well, and God bless you!!
Linda XXOO
Interesting. Are you in the UK? Just curious as so many people I know who are going through treatment have a tough time getting the CA15-3 here. Wishing you all the best xoxo
Hi, Carol!
I live in Seattle and am treated at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Wishing all my best to you as well!
Linda
Interesting, I'm in the UK, and my Oncologist wants the CA15-3 blood test but is stopping the CA125 and CA19-9 blood tests. My understanding is that is because my 15-3 was elevated and has dropped significantly on palbociclib, which we're interpreting as the medicine working. What she found with the 125 & 19-9 is that mine just are what they are and haven't changed.
I think the NHS in the UK uses 0-28 as the standard range for CA15-3 but that range can be impacted by other medical conditions, lifestyle factors, and medicines (to include chemo) so they may have to survey to determine your more natural or steady range. Also, different types of breast cancer and different locations of metastases may mean 15-3 is not the most sensitive or appropriate marker for the individual.
Helpful --- the universal 'it depends' answer! 🙄
Anyway, if you want to, see below for random articles used to come up with that non-answer/answer.
Stac 😀
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I found this article talking about different types of marker tests (futuremedicine.com/doi/10.2...
which I don't fully understand but the basic message I got out of it was that different markers might be more useful for different types of hormone sensitivity or lack of hormone sensitivity and also for potentially different locations of metastases.
I also found an NHS page for Gloucestershire on tumor marker measurements (gloshospitals.nhs.uk/our-se...
and I think that one suggests up to 28 as the range in that NHS trust. It also refers to this article
(bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b35...
which talks about the advantages and limitations of the tumour markers and the different markers used for different types of cancer. In essense, it implies that measuring certain markers are good for monitoring but that other medical conditions like diabetes or colitis and certain other factors like smoking or chemotherapy can affect the results for certain markers (although that could be transient vs permanent).
Thank you, Stac, for all of the time you invested in sharing these links! And you are so right; in the long run, everyone is so unique. We just have to get used to our own rhythm, testing history, and signals from our body. Prayers for years of stability!Linda XXOO
Thanks for the that top link. Although it didn't answer the question of the OP I found it useful info in regards to the relevance of testing for these tumor markers, for both diagnosis and monitoring
Hi, I’m in the uk and. They do mine every 4 weeks and they are a good sign of what’s going on. Why is everywhere different??!! X
I too do my CA 27-29 every month. My oncologist uses it as a guide to see how treatment is going.
Hello!Sounds like your oncologist is not entirely wrong, although the CA 15-3 is more useful to women with MBC. This is from the link that Sandra provided (above):
"Since CA 15-3 can be measured in the blood, it is useful as a tumor marker to follow the course of the cancer. CA 15-3 is elevated in fewer than 50% of women with early localized, breast cancer or with a small tumor, but is elevated in about 80% of those with breast cancer that has spread (metastatic). Because not all women with invasive breast cancer will have elevated CA 15-3, the test is not useful in all cases."
God bless you!
Linda XXOO
Thank you Linda, mine had spread. She still wouldn't do it.
That's so odd, because that seems to be a universally accepted tumor marker for women with MBC? Is that her individual decision, or is it the practice at your cancer center?
I guess that ultimately it's the scans that are the most important. But we all need to be self advocates. I keep careful records on an Excel spread sheet where I can see my own trends and discuss them with my onc.
Linda XXOO
On the blood tests here in UK at Queen’s Hospital in Burton they do test for CA 153 it shows the normal range as 0-20 for this tumour marker
7 months ago mine was over 1,300 it’s been trending down and at the last reading about 2.5 weeks ago it was at 287 almost 80% down. Which the Oncology team said was a good sign and that I am responding well to treatment (and the other things I am doing which are also helping)
Brilliant! Happy for your results! Im not sure why my oncologist don't believe in them.. (I live in Cambridgeshire).
I know when I was first diagnosed they didn’t use it as it doesn’t show up in all patients but it was one of the blood tests they ran when realised I had secondary breast cancer and they repeat it every 4 weeks.
I am in Yorkshire and my CA 15-3 is done with my monthly bloods. Mine is currently 19, but has never really changed in 3 plus years (18-23) . My onc said I may have marker negative disease (apparently 25 % of people) so my tumour marker may not be a reliable indicator and my scans, bloodwork and how I’m feeling are more significant. Also some other illnesses can cause markers to increase, as can some supplements like biotin if taken within a couple of days of blood tests . So some oncologists don’t rely on them .
thanks! thats a good answer!
Agree, my onc in Notts said that CA153 is only one of the factors they consider...mainly go with 1. How I’m feeling, 2. Ct scan (every 3 months) 3. Blood test. Suppose other factors can elevate or change results every month....diet, stress, etc.
Minefield! Xx
Your range is the same as that used at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (0-20). So happy for your great results! Keep those numbers dropping!! XXOO Linda
I'm a long timer living with mbc --17 years as of March 1. I've seen bc specialist oncs for second opinions a few times, and none of my oncs has tested the CA 15-3. My CA27-29 has only been in the "normal" range (under 38) for a few months in all this time. I can not elaborate on the differences among the various TMs (tumor markers) that can be tested for us, but I have learned quite a bit about their limitations. They plain old are not accurate for everybody. A change in either direction can at times be meaningless as far as our cancer cells responding to treatment. Some metsters never have elevated tumor markers and I have heard of several whose numbers are in the thousands! One thing that does sometimes elevated the TMs, especially right after a med change, is dying cancer cells. Those can make the numbers rise. Not all oncs test for them because of their limitations and some oncs only use them for those of us with bone mets only. (Bone mets can be harder to track with scans than mets in other organs). I paid alot more attention to mine during the first couple of years of treatment when my anxiety was higher than it is now. My first, and very long term, onc was old, experienced, calm and very wise. She told me that she pays alot more attention to what I (and other patients) tell her about how I am feeling than anything else. Scans are next and TMs a very distant third. TMs are not meant to be used to make decisions about changing treatment, but can help with decisions about when to have scans. I should also add that since I have done so well for so long, I have at times gone years rather than months between scans. I have always been in treatment and have nice slow lazy cancer cells that respond well to anti estrogen meds. It's helped me accept having this lousy cancer to view it as a long term thing without urgency in decision making regards treatment. I have made a rule for myself, though, that if I even think about calling my onc about something, or going to the ER, I do it. LOL Have only had to do those a very few times...... And I know that I am lucky!
My latest pet showed my bone mets had resolved but there is a new spot (indeterminate) on my liver. At the same time, my CA15-3 is now within normal range of <30.1 at 20. It had been around 300 when I started treatment. I was wondering about this contradiction but your comment gives me something to do more research about.
Onc says she isn’t concerned about the new liver spot but of course I’m nervous. Im on ibrance/letrozole- is it not as effective on soft tissue?
Hello, Kay!
I would react just like you and feel nervous about any new scan findings. If it does end up being confirmed as a metastasis, I've noted that many of the MBC patients on the Ibrance/Letrozole combo have found great success with Xeloda, if treatment changes. You'll find lots of thoughts from this group! God bless you!!
Linda XXOO
Loved reading your post and your description of your "lazy" cancer cells. When I was first diagnosed, my oncologist described mine as "timid" because they had stayed dormant for 17 years since initial BC diagnosis. May ours stay lazy and timid for years to come!
God bless you!
Linda XXOO
My oncologist used the adjective “indolent” when I was diagnosed in 2018 for similar reasons.
I was bemused because it’s not an adjective anyone ever used to describe me! I’m grateful for it now! 😁
I know we've had other discussions about your long-term treatment but it's really interesting to learn that sometimes you have been gone years between scans! In the past few months I started to have some weird nerve-related sensations/discomfort, despite my (then) recent CT scan showing much the same stability. TM markers though have been jumping up each month this year so I've had a couple of extra MRI to specific locations and still waiting for the results, meanwhile I'm feeling pretty good again - go figure!
Well when I was first diagnosed my marker number was almost 1,600! I think my oncologist was fully expecting me to not survive. Fortunately Ibrance and faslodex have been working and it’s now at 56. Pray it continues to work and that my number goes down even farther! ❤️
Hooray! It sounds to me like your treatment is definitely effective! May your markers continue to decline and may you remain stable for years to come!
God bless you, Sunshine!
Linda XXOO
Thank you! 🙏❤️
Sandra!You are like a living, breathing encyclopedia! Thanks so much for all the time you provide to educating all of us! You are our WONDER WOMAN!!
XXOO Linda
I just got my most recent results, and mine is 129....it has been much higher! But apparently in a cancer free person the range is 25 and under....but my doctors have always paid much more attention to scans, using the markers just as a way to keep some tabs between scans...I have heard that they generally don’t diagnose based on markers alone.
I think that, just as you say, the markers are merely guidelines. The scans (which of course provoke the most anxiety) are the real deal. Wish there was a pill for scanxiety!
XXOO Linda
My CA 15 markers have been up and down for the past 2 1/2 years. I went from I ibrance to Doxil and I’m now on xeloda. They were at 1100 2 months ago and now are down below 900.200 Would be a dream
Have they gone down with each corresponding treatment change? Or up and down a fair bit while still on one drug?
My oncologist uses the CA27-29 each month to give an indication of how the treatment is working. On that one, it is under 38 U/ml as the reference range. When I started the test before I began Ibrance and when I was diagnosed with MNC, I had a number of 500. SHe said that was nowhere near the highest she has ever seen. I now float around 35-55 on my Ibrance protocol. It can fluctuate month to month. My Onc does not worry and won't unless it spikes and then she will go for scans.
I’m guessing that is the practice of most oncologists, too. 👍👍💗💗
Hey I was reading through your post and saw this and wanted to comment. When I had my bloodwork done in Sept of last year my CA 27-29 379.5 CEA 156. Really high. However in Jan 22, 2021 CA27-29 88.7 CEA 36.3. I havent had my CA 15 3 done in a long time and not sure why but I will ask when I go on June 28th if they will.
How long have you been on your current treatment? My TM are going up steadily these past few months but as of yet we haven't seen evidence of why! Sometimes I feel like being stuck inside (and the stress) of the pandemic have aggravated this, even though I exercise I am not getting nearly as much
I had spinal surgery in August of last year to remove a tumor that had crushed two vertebraes and was causing horrible pain and paralysis however God pulled me through and I am a walking miracle. They started me on Letrozole in August and Ibrance in September. But I have been on and off of ibrance due to covid and I was suppose to have plastic surgery to help my wound heal so they took me off a week before but I got sick with a sore throat and fever so I wasnt able to have the surgery. So I take Letrozole, 75mg ibrance, xgeva shots along with quite a few supplements. I havent been eating as well as I should and that needs to change. Sometimes I just dont feel like eating however I crave sweets and I was never a sweets eater. I go on the 28th of this month for bone scans, ct scan, bloodwork, and xgeva shot. I havent been for scans since Jan 22 and the bones were stable and some spots were healing and my ct scan was all clear! I was diagnosed with Er+ Pr+ Her2- in both breast and extensive bone mets. I did not have my breast removed. How about you?
Sounds like the treatment is working well for you! All the best for your upcoming scans! Yes its important to keep to a healthy diet and try to avoid sugar as much as possible. And to drink plenty of water while taking Ibrance. Simplifying my journey slightly: Diagnosed early stage in 2005, mastectomy and chemo. Mets diagnosed in 2018. I've been on the IBrance/fulvestrant combo for almost 3 years now but now my TM are definitely trending upwards so now it's a matter of how far to push it before I switch meds as I have had some nerve impingement type of signaling from my body these last 2 months and I don't want to risk a fracture (I already had a partial compressive fracture of the L5 when first diagnosed).
Xeloda success story!
CA 27 29 fluctuating 
Elevated 15-3 Tumor Marker
My CA 15-3 is rising slowly, I’m scared 
