Vaccine to Prevent Breast Cancer Recurrence May Be On the Horizon

A breast cancer vaccine to prevent recurrence may begin the first stages of clinical trial testing this spring. The new vaccine would not replace traditional treatment for cancer, but would present another treatment option for breast cancer patients.

Thanks to a six-year, $2.9 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, a new vaccine to prevent breast cancer recurrence may be on the horizon. With the grant, researchers with the University of Arkansas Medical Science (UAMS) were able to develop a peptide antigen, mimicking carbohydrate antigens that breast cancer cells reportedly are covered with. With the vaccine, the body would hopefully be tricked into producing antibodies that target the peptides in the vaccine, as well as the carbohydrates they resemble on the breast cancer cells.

Researchers developed an understanding of how different molecules worked together combating disease— the key to the development of the new vaccine—after a decade of studying the immune system, according to Thomas Kiebler-Emmons, director of basic breast cancer research at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. The team is hoping to begin trial testing of the vaccine this spring. The number of patients to be involved in the new study hasn’t yet been determined, but the first two phases will involve Arkansas residents only, though future clinical trials may involve patients from around the country.

according to Dr. Laura Hutchins, a UAMS professor of internal medicine and director of the division of hematology and oncology, who will be in charge of interacting with the patients involved in the trial testing.

The initial phase will involve women who have breast cancer that is active and spreading, along with women who have relapsed after being in remission. It should last from four to six months, where women will receive five doses of the vaccine. The patients will receive immunizations for the first three weeks and then on the seventh and nineteenth weeks. Dr. Laura Hutchins, a UAMS professor of internal medicine and director of the division of hematology and oncology who will be in charge of interacting with the patients, said the initial phase will be looking for any side effects caused by the vaccine. Researchers hope to begin the second phase of testing four months after the conclusion of the first phase. The second phase will include women who have suffered from breast cancer previously and are in remission, but have a high risk of relapse. Participants must have completed chemotherapy at least six months prior to participating in the clinical trial.

Almost one in every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer according to the National Cancer Institute. Even though treatment options have improved vastly over the last few decades as well as the probability of survival increasing, the CDC reported in 2004 that 40,954 women died of breast cancer and that 362 men also died. Women who are obese, especially those who are post-menopausal, those drinking more than two ounces of alcohol a day and those who smoke, have increased risks of developing breast cancer. According to the CDC, breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in women, with the most common being skin cancer.

Researchers hope through the clinical trials, the new vaccine will prove to be successful in warding off breast cancer recurrence, and breast cancer patients will soon have a new treatment option.