A Glimmer Of Hope: Vaccine Developed By Cleveland Clinic Aims To Prevent Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - On this last Friday of Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes a glimmer of hope.
A vaccine developed by the Cleveland Clinic aims to prevent the worst kind of breast cancer.
The first human trial is taking applications for patients to test a vaccine that has been highly effective in mice and goes after triple-negative breast cancer.
Dr. Thomas Budd, who has led the development of the vaccine over the past 20 years says it is critically needed.
"Every day I see the needs of women who have triple-negative breast cancer, yet we don't currently have suitable advanced treatment options for them," Dr. Budd says. "Despite representing only about 15% of all breast cancers, triple-negative breast cancers accounted for a disproportionately higher percentage of breast cancer deaths."
"What we're trying to do is what we call primary prevention," his colleague Dr. Vincent Tuohy says. "It's actually preventing the disease from occurring, to begin with. It was never there, to begin with."
Over the next year, 24 patients will go through the initial human trial with what Dr. Budd says are two goals.
"One, to determine the side effects and safety of the vaccine and two, to determine whether it produces an immunological response," he explains.
That response will indicate the body's ability to build a defense against any sign of the cells that could bring on cancer.
Dr. Touhy says the animal trials have been encouraging.
"The research also found that a single vaccination could prevent breast tumors from occurring, while also inhibiting the growth of already existing breast tumors," Dr. Touhy says.
Dr. Touhy says the initial trial will lead to another and he's hopeful in a few years a vaccine will be available to the public.
He's hoping that is less than ten years.