CA numbers rising: possible explanation

[Dragonfly2]

Over the past months my CA15-3 and CEA have been rising since I got my April Covid booster. Historically, my numbers rose after receiving Covid vaccines in 2021. Is there a connection? And is the connection actually a good thing? Does stimulating your immune system actually work to improve one’s overall cancer outcome? Others have been asking these questions. This article, while full of barely comprehensible scientific jargon, does point out this observation that many of us have noted after Covid vaccinations: Insight: This case suggests that the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine stimulated anticancer immunity and tumor regression.

ladies, are you getting the same message? Now mind you, this is not about breast cancer cells…nevertheless it raises an interesting question about any cancer cells and stimulating the immune system.

jitc.bmj.com/content/10/3/e...

Best of luck ladies😍

[Hazelgreen]

Thanks for sharing this link to a single case report. Since this journal is new to me, I checked out its purpose:

"The Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC) is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that aims to enrich communication and advance scientific understanding in the rapidly evolving fields of tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy. Topics of interest range across the basic science-translational-clinical spectrum and include tumor-host interactions, the tumor microenvironment, animal models, predictive and prognostic immune biomarkers, novel pharmaceutical and cellular therapies, vaccines, combination immune-based therapies, and immune-related toxicity."

"JITC is the official journal of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC)."

I am very happy to learn that such a society and such a journal exists. It seems to me that we patients badly need a focus on our immune systems which are largely undermined (in terms of our neutrophils and other leukocyctes) by the treatments we currently take.

[Hazelgreen in reply to Hazelgreen]

Since JITC is an open access journal, anyone can access the complete article by clicking on "article text". When I did this, I learned:

"Later in February 2021, before systemic therapy was initiated, the patient received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Reported side effects were more severe than after the first dose" ... "Intriguingly, in March 2021, a CT scan of the chest revealed 13% shrinkage of the pulmonary nodules (figure 1D). Therefore, the decision was made to not proceed with the clinical trial treatment, which had been scheduled to start the day after the CT"..."Persistent tumor shrinkage was demonstrated on follow-up CT scans: 50%, 67%, and 73% reduction (figure 1E–G) at 3, 6, and 9 months, respectively, after the second dose of the vaccine. A timeline summarizing these events is shown in figure 1H. Therefore, we hypothesized that the tumor shrinkage was attributed to a systemic inflammatory response induced by the COVID-19 vaccine."

[Beryl71]

I'm having same issue, I've also read that people are getting false interpretation of pet and CT scans. There can be enlargement of lymph nodes related to the inflammatory response. I'm going to see my oncologist today armed with a research report I've printed off. I don't want any knee jerk reaction to changing my medication.