Immunotherapy and tumor marker numbers - 1290942

rayna
Posts:2

When just starting immunotherapy, for those who track tumor markers even in nsclc, do the numbers increase initially like how the tumors can initially swell?

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JimC
Posts: 2753

Hi rayna,

Welcome to GRACE. Since tumor markers really don't reliably predict what is going on with an existing lung cancer, it's not possible to make a generalization about whether a rising tumor marker at the beginning of immunotherapy indicates either progression or the pseudo-progression to which you refer. As such, if you're dealing with the type of situation you describe, I would not make any assumptions about the efficacy of the immunotherapy.

JimC
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