CA27.29 marker

I was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer in Feb 09.  After surgery to remove the lump I had 4 chemos and 4 weeks radiation.  My doctor uses CA27.29 cancer marker and my last test it was elevated to 53.  Normal results are below 38.  I am heading for a bone scan and ct scan later this week.  I have read that IBUPROFEN may also cause that marker to be elevated.  I was given large amounts of that drug by another doctor for back pain.  Can you please comment?

[Cleveland Clinic]

Dear Tami834:  Tumor markers are substances that can be found in the body when cancer is present. They are most often found in the blood or urine, but they can also be found in tumors and other tissue. They can be products of the cancer cells themselves, or made by the body in response to cancer or other conditions. Most tumor markers are proteins.  CA 27.29 is a type of tumor marker that might be used to follow patients with breast cancer during or after treatment.  

For many reasons, tumor markers alone are usually not enough to know if cancer is present. Most tumor markers can be made by normal cells as well as by cancer cells. Sometimes, non-cancerous diseases can also cause levels of certain tumor markers to be higher than normal. And not every person with cancer may have higher levels of a tumor marker. For these reasons, only a few tumor markers are commonly used by most doctors. When a doctor looks at the level of a certain tumor marker, he or she will consider it in context of the individual patient situation including the patient's history and physical exam and other lab tests or imaging tests.  It is impossible to speculate on whether the ibuprophen has anything at all to do with your CA27.29 level.