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12-06-2007, 06:38 AM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 589
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If tumor markers seem to reliable does anyone know if the serum test makes sense anyway?
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12-06-2007, 07:14 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Acworth, GA
Posts: 2,104
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Eric,
Ther serum test is extremely reliable for me. Iknow there are other women on the board who use the HER2 serum test as well. But as I said it is usually used for advanced or metastic breast cancer.
__________________
Kate
Stage IIIC Diagnosed Oct 25, 2005 (age 58)
ER/PR-, HER2+++, grade 3, Ploidy/DNA index: Aneuploid/1.61, S-phase: 24.2%
Neoadjunct chemo: 4 A/C; 4 Taxatore
Bilateral mastectomy June 8, 2006
14 of 26 nodes positive
Herceptin June 22, 2006 - April 20, 2007
Radiation (X35) July 24-September 11, 2006
BRCA1/BRCA2 negative
Stage IV lung mets July 13, 2007 - TCH
Single brain met - August 6, 2007 -CyberKnife
Oct 2007 - clear brain MRI and lung mets shrinking.
March 2008 lung met progression, brain still clear - begin Tykerb/Xeloda/Ixempra
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12-06-2007, 05:42 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 752
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Mary Jo;
I take this test regularly and I think for someone like yourself who is ER/PR- it would be a very valuable tool as you are not taking a hormone inhibitor. By taking it initially to get a level following treatment....hopefully it would be low, you could take it only every quarter year or half year unless you saw it raising. You could then increase the frequency to monitor it. If it continued to raise you would then expect to take herceptin again at least until it is lowered to normal levels. In this way you would have a way to try to keep from having an actual tumor develop. That is one theory in any case. My onc follows my results with interest and this is how we are intending to use the test....as an indicator of when herceptin is necessary without a tumor being identified.
Cathy
__________________
Cathy
Diagnosed Oct. 2004 3 cm ductal, lumpectomy Nov. 2004
Diagnosed Jan. 2005 tumor in supraclavicular node
Stage 3c, Grade 3, ER/PR+, Her2++
4 AC, 4 Taxol, Radiation, Arimidex, Actonel
Herceptin for 9 months until Muga dropped and heart enlarged
Restarting herceptin weekly after 4 months off
Stopped herceptin after four weekly treatments....score dropped to 41
Finished 6 years Arimidex
May 2015 diagnosed with ovarian cancer
Stage 1C
started 6 treatments of carboplatin/taxol
Genetic testing show BRCA1 VUS
Nice! My hair came back really curly. Hope it lasts lol. Well it didn't but I liked it so I'm now a perm lady
29 March 2018 Lung biopsy following chest CT showing tumours in pleura of left lung, waiting for results to the question bc or ovarian
April 20, 2018 BC mets confirmed, ER/PR+ now Her2-
Questions about the possibility of ovarian spread and mets to bones so will be tested and monitored for these.
To begin new drug Palbociclib (Ibrance) along with Letrozole May, 2018.
Genetic testing of ovarian tumour and this new lung met will take months.
To see geneticist to be retested for BRCA this week....still BRCA VUS
CA125 has declined from 359 to 12 as of Aug.23/18
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12-06-2007, 07:24 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Stockton, NJ
Posts: 4,179
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The Her2 Serum test measures the amount of "external domain" of the Her2 receptor in your blood. The external domain is the part that sticks out of the cancer cell on the outside - the part that Herceptin would latch onto. Theory is that the external domain is routinely shed. It ends up in the blood and can therefore be measured. So, if you have mets growing, the count would go up. However, what it is especially good for is if you have mets and are in treatment, you can get the test run and if the counts aren't going down, it is an indication the treatment is not working so it can cut down on scans just to see if the treatment is working.
Theoretically, it would be a waste in early bc because there is nothing much to measure.
__________________
Kind regards
Becky
Found lump via BSE
Diagnosed 8/04 at age 45
1.9cm tumor, ER+PR-, Her2 3+(rt side)
2 micromets to sentinel node
Stage 2A
left 3mm DCIS - low grade ER+PR+Her2 neg
lumpectomies 9/7/04
4DD AC followed by 4 DD taxol
Used Leukine instead of Neulasta
35 rads on right side only
4/05 started Tamoxifen
Started Herceptin 4 months after last Taxol due to
trial results and 2005 ASCO meeting & recommendations
Oophorectomy 8/05
Started Arimidex 9/05
Finished Herceptin (16 months) 9/06
Arimidex Only
Prolia every 6 months for osteopenia
NED 18 years!
Said Christopher Robin to Pooh: "You must remember this: You're braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think"
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12-06-2007, 07:51 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 556
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It might be useful to catch the recurrence early. It looks like Her2 serum will be more sensitive than other tumor markers for some people and will rise atleast few weeks before other markers rise in case of recurrence. But many oncologists are still very skeptical about it.
Julie
__________________
Diagnosed in Sept 2004 while pregnant with the second child. Stage 3b, tumor 4.5cm, 4 auxillary and supraclav node positive. Her2+++ FISH 9.4 and er-,pr-.
Had dose dense neoadjuvant AC,Taxol then mastectomy,radiation+xeloda+Herceptin.
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