The words “breast cancer vaccine” sound kind of surreal and unbelievable, don’t they? Could it really be possible that this cancer – which has taken so many women from us – could someday be prevented by a simple vaccine? And might that day come sooner than we think?
It could. In fact, it’s working in mice. Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, published in the journal Nature Medicine, have developed a vaccine that is preventing breast cancer tumors in mice. They will move soon to conduct trials in humans.
"If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental,” said Vincent Tuohy, the immunologist who led the research. “We could eliminate breast cancer."
From BBC News:
In the study, genetically cancer-prone mice were vaccinated - half with a vaccine containing á-lactalbumin and half with a vaccine that did not contain the antigen.
None of the mice vaccinated with á-lactalbumin developed breast cancer, while all of the other mice did.
"We believe that this vaccine will someday be used to prevent breast cancer in adult women in the same way that vaccines have prevented many childhood diseases,” Tuohy said.
What’s so world-changing about the possibility is this: Previously, the two cancer vaccines approved by the United States target cancers that are caused by viruses, which are foreign invaders to the human body. Cervical cancer vaccines target the human papillomavirus (HPV) and liver cancer vaccines target the Hepatitis B virus (HBV). But breast cancer is not caused by a virus. It, like other more traditional cancers, happens when the body’s own cell growth mutates and overdevelops.
The trickiness of developing such a vaccine is that it must not attack the body’s own immune system even while it targets the cause of a possible cancer.
It will be several years before any such vaccine could be available to the public. And experts are predictably cautious.
Duke oncologist Dr. Victoria Seewaldt told WRAL.com in Raleigh-Durham that cancers have been cured in mice before but that those protocols failed to work on people.
“We have cured an awful lot of mouse cancer in my day," Seewaldt said. "I really want to see it working in humans before I take out the champagne bottle."
Caitlin Palframan, of the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, told BBC News: "This research could have important implications for how we might
prevent breast cancer in the future. However, this is an early stage study, and we look forward to seeing the results of large-scale clinical trials to find out if this vaccine would be safe and effective in humans."
Dr. Mehmet Oz, known as Dr. Oz to his television audience, sees a profound possibility in such a vaccine.
"This is a ground changer,” said Oz during a visit to KMGH News in Denver, Colo. He said the next step is clinical trials on cancer patients.
"If we can just educate our bodies to keep up with the cancer cells as we do with viruses, we can knock them off just as easily," said Oz.
Fingers crossed.
A link to the original study in Nature Medicine (must login or pay):
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nm.2161.html
The BBC story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8714085.stm
The WRAL story:
http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/healthteam/story/7699350/
The KMGH story:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/education/23750959/detail.html