Hopes For Breast Cancer Vaccine After Growth Of Tumours Stopped
Could This Breast Cancer Vaccine Slow The Disease?
PA / The Huffington Post UK
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An experimental breast cancer vaccine has been shown to slow down progression of the tumour in human patients.
Trialling the vaccine on 14 women, researchers found that half of them showed no sign of tumour growth one year after treatment - a small progress, but a progress nonetheless.
The vaccine also had an effect on those with immune systems weakened by the disease and chemotherapy.
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Scientists now plan to follow the small pilot trial with a larger study of newly diagnosed patients who should have stronger immune systems.
US lead researcher Professor William Gillanders, from Washington University School of Medicine, said: "Despite the weakened immune systems in these patients, we did observe a biologic response to the vaccine while analysing immune cells in their blood samples.
"That's very encouraging. We also saw preliminary evidence of improved outcome, with modestly longer progression-free survival."
The vaccine primes the immune system to target a protein called mammaglobin-A which is found almost exclusively in breast tissue. Breast cancer tumours produce it at abnormally high levels.
"Being able to target mammaglobin is exciting because it is expressed broadly in up to 80% of breast cancers, but not at meaningful levels in other tissues," said Prof Gillanders.
"In theory, this means we could treat a large number of breast cancer patients with potentially fewer side effects."
The vaccine would not be effective in the small number of breast cancer patients whose tumours do not generate mammaglobin-A, he pointed out.
The small Phase I trial was chiefly designed to assess the vaccine's safety and side effects, but the scientists also obtained preliminary data on its effectiveness.
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Breast Cancer Signs And Treatment
What Are The Symptoms?(01 of10)
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"A new painless, firm breast lump with irregular margins is a potential symptom of breast cancer," says Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, a breast cancer researcher at the Mayo Clinic. "The cancer diagnosis is confirmed following a biopsy of the lump." She notes that usually, women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer are healthy and don't feel sick at all. (credit:LarsZahnerPhotography via Getty Images)
Other Symptoms(02 of10)
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Another potential symptom/sign of breast cancer, Pruthi notes, is a new onset of persistent redness on the skin overtop the breast with an orange peel appearance. This would also need a biopsy to confirm a diagnosis of breast cancer. (credit:Image Source via Getty Images)
Metastatic Cancer Symptoms(03 of10)
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"If the cancer is very advanced (metastatic) then the symptoms may also include weight loss, bone pain, headaches, nausea and persistent cough," Pruthi says. (credit:pamela burley via Getty Images)
What Are The Risk Factors?(04 of10)
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Some commonly associated risk factors, Pruthi says, are menstruation before age 11, menstruation after age 54, a first pregnancy after age 35 and a family history of relatives diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer. (credit:AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Are There Any Lifestyle Risk Factors?(05 of10)
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"There is evidence in the literature that obesity after menopause, lack of regular exercise, consuming greater than more or more alcoholic beverages daily, and a high fat diet can all be associated with a higher breast cancer risk," Pruthi notes. But, she points out, "women need to know that any woman can get breast cancer even in the absence of any of these risk factors." (credit:Adrian Samson via Getty Images)
Can I Eat Anything To Prevent It?(06 of10)
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There are no specific types of diets, Pruthi says, but rather women are encouraged to eat fruits, vegetables, fibre, and minimize their alcohol and fat intake, as well as get regular exercise. (credit:lola1960 via Getty Images)
How Do Doctors Determine Treatment?(07 of10)
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"The most current treatment of breast cancer has taken on a individualized approach and is dependent on the biology or aggressive features of the breast cancer," Pruthi explains. "Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease and this means that are many sub-types and different degrees of aggressiveness. So staging, which typically takes into account common prognostic features such as tumour size and if lymph nodes are involved, are no longer the only factors doctors use to determine treatment options." (credit:Christopher Futcher via Getty Images)
So What Do They Look At?(08 of10)
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"Today the biology of the tumour is also characterized by molecular markers (also known as predictive markers) such as if the estrogen or progesterone receptor is positive or negative and if the HER 2 protein is positive or negative," she says. "This helps decide who will benefit from a specific chemotherapy regimen, hormonal medications known as antiestrogens or who may need both chemotherapy and hormonal treatment." (credit:BluePlanetEarth via Getty Images)
What About Preventative Mastectomies?(09 of10)
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"Preventive mastectomy is an option for women at very high risk for developing breast cancer because they are BRCA 1 or 2 gene positive or if someone has hereditary predisposition to getting breast cancer but chooses not to have the genetic testing done," Pruthi says. "It is prudent that women who are considering this surgery know their family history in detail. Based on the moderate or strong family history, your doctor would recommend you meet with a genetic counselor to go over the family pedigree and help decide who should test for the breast cancer gene, when to test and how to interpret the genetic test results before proceeding with this preventive surgery." (credit:Jesús Jaime Mota via Getty Images)
Are Other Preventative Treatments Available?(10 of10)
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"High risk women who have had precancerous breast biopsies or strong family history may also be eligible to take preventive medications such as tamoxifen, raloxifene or exemestane to reduce breast cancer risk," Pruthi adds. (credit:art-4-art via Getty Images)
The 14 treated patients all had metastatic, or spreading, breast cancer and tested positive for mammaglobin-A.
About one fifth of a comparison group of 12 women who were not vaccinated also showed no cancer progression after one year.
The better outcome seen in the vaccinated group was statistically significant, said the scientists whose findings are reported in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
The larger trial is expected to provide more meaningful results, said Prof Gillanders.
He added: "If we give the vaccine to patients at the beginning of treatment, the immune systems should not be compromised like in patients with metastatic disease.
"We also will be able to do more informative immune monitoring than we did in this preliminary trial.
"Now that we have good evidence that the vaccine is safe, we think testing it in newly diagnosed patients will give us a better idea of the effectiveness of the therapy."
Sally Greenbrook from the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer said: "These are very interesting results, and this work could eventually lead to a therapeutic treatment or a vaccine that could be used in breast cancer prevention.
"However it is important to remember that this was a very small-scale trial designed to see whether the treatment is safe and effective, so any vaccine against breast cancer is likely still some years away.
"As treatments and clinical preventative measures improve it is equally important that women manage their own risk of breast cancer by maintaining a healthy lifestyle."