Breakthrough imminent in breast cancer vaccine

Scientists have developed a vaccine that could not only stop breast cancer from forming, but slow down the growth of an existing tumor and even completely stop its progress in some cases. The preliminary testing was done on mice and the results were so encouraging.

The researchers, whose findings are published in the current issue of the journal, Nature Medicine, are planning to conduct a trial in humans as soon as next year.

The researchers say it could still be years before a vaccine is readily available in the market, but it has proved 70 per cent effective in animal studies.

"If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer," the lead researcher, an immunologist, Dr Vincent Tuohy, of the Cleveland Clinic Learner Research Institute in the US, was quoted by BBC Online as saying.

The study said the vaccine targets a protein found in most breast tumours. This is unlike in the now highly effective cervical cancer vaccine, and the one for liver tumors, which are basically targeted at the human papiloma virus (HPV).

The vaccine works by boosting the immune system, which attacks a protein called Alpha-lactalbumin that occurs in most breast cancers.

The lead researcher said the product will one day be used to prevent breast cancer in adult women in the same way other vaccines have prevented many childhood diseases such as polio, or even measles.

The researchers injected the test vaccine into six mice that were specifically bred to be prone to breast cancer. None developed any signs of tumors.

Six other mice bred in the same way were injected with a placebo vaccine and all developed tumors.

The drug makes the immune system to attack a particular protein that is found in most breast-cancer cells and in the mammary tissue of breast-feeding women.

If clinical tests of the vaccine on humans are successful, women over 40 could be vaccinated against the disease. At that age, breast-cancer risk begins to increase and women are less likely to be breast feeding.

Cancer is a disease that can strike at the drop of a hat, coming in an array of different forms which have led to the development of many different treatments ranging from chemotherapy to actual drugs that are approved to treat certain forms of the disease. This new vaccine that has been developed would be a world first.

Dr. Tuohy said there was evidence in the initial tests that the vaccine could prevent cancers from forming and stops the growth of existing tumors. "If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer. 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."

This is coming at a time World health Organisation (WHO) said developing countries account for 63 per cent of all cancer deaths and 56 per cent of new cases.

According to the organisation, these are the findings of a newly released cancer statistics tool. The online tool called GLOBOCAN 2008 was launched by WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.

The Nation newspaper 15-06-2010