Are we really near in finding the right treatment for breast cancer? A vaccine currently under a clinical trial is showing huge promise after the participants showed no life-threatening side effects and experience delay in disease progression.
A team of scientists and doctors from Washington University in St. Louis have been working really hard to produce what could be the first-ever breast cancer vaccine.
The clinical trial was actually meant to measure the safety of the vaccine, and they were able to know the answer and gain so much more.
Fourteen breast cancer patients with metastasis participated in the study. Although they experienced side effects such as rash on the injected site and flu-like symptoms, these are considered normal in vaccination standards and therefore do not pose serious threat on the already-compromised health of the patients.
However, they have also discovered that those who received the vaccine experienced delay in the progression of the disease, even for those who have a much weaker immune system.
The vaccine activates certain white blood cells and designs them to target mammaglobin-A, a protein that is found only in the tissue of the breast. People with breast cancer exhibit high levels of this protein.
Because of the positive and promising results they have been getting, the team is planning for a bigger trial, but this time, it will be among new breast cancer patients or those who have not experienced metastasis yet. Considering that they have lesser exposure to chemotherapy and other treatments, they are expected to have a more robust immune system than metastatic patients. This trial will also be used to give the researchers a deeper understanding to its effectiveness.
Over the past few years, the incidence of breast cancer has significantly decreased as new methods of screening, detection, and treatment are available. Nevertheless, it still remains to be one of the leading causes of cancer deaths.
You can read more about the study in Clinical Cancer Research since December 1.