I am new here from Seattle. I have a question about tumor markers at the beginning of treatment for MBC.
Is it true that your CA 27.29 marker can increase at the beginning of treatment? I started treatment two months ago (150/2x a day Verzenio and Letrozole) on 2/25 for MBC (bones and small liver spot),
On 2/25 (first day of treatment) my marker was 100, then it went to 104 on 3/10, 4/7 it went to 121 and today it is 147 (exactly 2 months in). I feel like it should be going down - not up! ugh! I have my first scan next Month (3 months in) but was hoping my makers would have started to decline after 60 days.
Any insight? Thank you!
Written by
miconrad
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Hi Miconrad, in my case my tumor markers have never been elevated, even when I was dx as stage IV. I have read that they can fluctuate a bit. Send your oncologist or team a message if you have MyChart and see what they say . I'm in the Seattle area too! My oncologist is at SCCA. I'm on Ibrance and fulvestrant .
HI sorry to be off topic but I live in Olympia and i'm waiting to get a second opinion at Seattle Cancer care from my local Providence. I just wondered what you thought of the care as i might be able to change and so future consultations via zoom. Chris
Hi Pachira, I've been happy with scca . They are a large facility but once you are "in the system" as a cancer patient, your oncologist can get you scans and treatment pretty quickly . I see Dr Vinayak and she's been good to work with. My first oncologist in 2008 when I was stage 1 retired in 2015.
Many, many docs don't follow tumor markers at all. Those who do usually check them every 6 months, looking at trends. Your numbers are not very high.
Even though your scared and worried from a practical living with this cancer point of view these numbers are really not helpful for you right now.
Ask your doc about how often he plans to do them, ask about how high the numbers can go and what their meaning for you should be.
I have had 5 different oncologists only one of them followed tumor markers - it was too watch the trend. It is not an exact diagnostic test.
I have seen people with liver Mets report tumor markers in the thousands.
I hope this reduces your anxiety a bit. Sorry you have this added stress. Wish you the best of all outcomes. I am on a similar treatment as you, going on 5 years without disease progression.
Hi! The good new is that tumour markers often go up at first when you get treated. I think the dying cancer cells release the marker as they die. Then, when everything settles down, the markers drop a bit and stabilise. Have faith! Good luck! X from Aotearoa New Zea
Hello, please don't be scared! Your body is fighting the cancer. For myself I have zero knowledge of tumour markers. I don't think they are tracked in the UK (I don't even understand what they are). I am also protecting myself by compartmentalising... not trying to find out too much (eg prognosis) all at once.
This site, though, is amazing. You will find so much support, and knowledge (including about tumour markers I am sure). I send you a warm, gentle hug and hope that you are not currently in pain.
"Tumor markers are substances found in higher-than-normal levels in the blood, urine, or tissues of some people with cancer. These substances, which are also called biomarkers, can be made by the tumor. They can also be made by healthy cells in response to the tumor. Tumor marker tests check to see if you have these substances in your body and in what amounts. Tumor markers are often proteins. In addition, certain genetic changes are now being used as tumor markers."
My own experience is that cancer markers are relatively slow to decrease with effective treatment. It took eight months for my first MBC treatment to show a decrease in my CA 15-3. I think two months is a very short time to evaluate what is really happening. Your CT scan will indeed tell you much.
My doctor told me that when u first try treatments the tumors will swell then die. That’s why the fluctuations. It should level off when they shrink or go away
One thing to know about tumor markers (TMs) is that many oncs don't use them at all because they are not always reliable, don't work at all for some of us, and can cause very unneeded worry for us! The oncs that do use them consider them a distant third after what we tell them about how we are feeling, then scans. Two months is still very early in treatment, and the increase you have seen is very very small. Many of us have TM numbers much higher than 1 or 2 hundred, even several thousand! If you had your TMs tested two days in a row, they likely would not be the same. This whole bc cancer journey is full of pot holes! And for many (most, nearly all?) of us, the first months are the hardest--getting our heads around what is happening, getting used to so many medical appts, meds, and then when we have to look at it in terms of the rest of our lives, jobs, routines, family, friends, and our own expectations of ourselves--yikes, it amazing that we get it all together again within months and not decades! It reallydoes get better. One of the things that helped me was leqrning all I could about bc and mbc. I went to the closest book store, found the "health" section and looked at all the books on bc, scanned tables of contents, and looked at a page or two and bought the three books that resonated most with me. It also helped me to realize that while I don'tthat I don't have control over the cancer cells but I do have control over thin gs like keeping appts, asking questions, taking my meds, and talking with the people most likely to be supportive and helpful. And know that many of us are living alot longer than we imagined possible when we were just a couple of months into this cancer journey. I hit the 18 year mark last month...amazing! And i've met alot of women who have lived 15, 20, even 30 years! I hope you will be one of them, but it's too soon to know, just as it hasa been for all of us in our preMBC lives!
Welcome! Many oncs don't use these numbers. They depend more on scans and our reports on how we feel. Try not to stress about this as you adapt to your mbc situation. Easier said than done I know! Love and hugs
I have my markers checked every month and in the beginning they did elevate. After 3 months they started dropping. I had a scan after 3 months an it showed significant decrease in size of tumors. My oncologist does follow the markers and saud if meds not working the increase from month to month would be a significant amount. Fluctuations are normal. As PJBinMI said above, try to concentrate on things you can control. Eating properly is a big thing for me. I have cut out processed food, refined sugars and most carbs. I lost some weight and feel much better about myself and what I am putting in my body. I control that. Try to remain hopeful and come on here to hear all the stories of these brave women that have beat this devil for many years! Keep us posted on your progress. We're sisters in the fight! Here for you,
Hello, I am also from the PNW (Bremerton). My current Oncologist has been following three TMs and I am learning that they are definitely not giving us a true picture of what is going on in MY body. I have lots of bone mets and two liver lesions, all scans have been stable! We have watched my TMs steadily increase or bounce around since Nov. and that is when I had compression in a disc and lots of inflammation. I am switching to SCCA next month and my doctor there will not even follow TMs (thank goodness because they cause me a lot of anxiety). I just listened to an informative podcast episode on This MBC Life about progression and TMs, the doctor was Stephanie Graff, MD, I highly recommend listening to her thoughts on TMs.
I also live in PNW in Olympia. They test using Ca15-3. At the start of my treatment, it went up and the Onc said that was normal in the first 3 months. It did come down to normal 5 years ago but has been slowly rising to 350. Not sure that's helpful but as others said many things can cause your markers to go up but a different treatment is one of them. Good luck. Chris
I think everybody's right. I don't understand them either. My doctors all tell me stay positive, so I am. You do the same & we'll all keep fingers 🤞 & keep you in our 🙏.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Ca markers high
Verzenio treatment
How much time before CA 27.29 goes down after starting ibrance?
Ibrance, Letrozole and Tumor Marker “flare” after beginning treatment?
Tumor Marker Confusion
