Thursday 14/November/2024 – 10:06 PM
Reach out Researchers An experimental vaccine may provide new hope for women who have been diagnosed with an aggressive and difficult-to-treat type of breast cancer, according to a study published in the journal Genome Medicine.
A new vaccine shows promising results for patients with aggressive breast cancer
Triple negative breast cancer, which is the type that cannot be treated with hormone therapy because it does not depend on any of the three hormones that usually fuel breast cancer.
The vaccine showed great effectiveness in combating cancer, as it was able to teach the immune system how to recognize and eliminate cancer cells, which led to 16 out of 18 patients remaining free of the disease for three years.
By comparison, only half of patients who undergo surgery remain cancer-free after three years, according to historical data.
The researchers analyzed cancerous tumor tissue after surgery to find unique genetic mutations in the patients’ cancer cells, and then designed a personalized cancer vaccine for each patient, based on those mutations.
The researchers said that all the trial patients underwent chemotherapy, then underwent surgery to remove breast tumors.
They continued: Each patient received three doses of the vaccine, which taught his immune system to recognize the main mutations in his specific breast tumors and attack the cancer cells.
