Researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania have developed a possible vaccine that might be used to treat breast cancer and have begun a clinical trial to test it.
The trial will test the effectiveness of the vaccine in fighting cancer and make sure it is safe for patients.
The trial has been made possible by a $500,000 grant from a joint program involving the National Cancer Institute -- a federal government agency that funds cancer-related research -- and the Avon Foundation, Inc.
The trial itself will consist of treating 28 breast cancer patients with different doses of the vaccine and following them for about two years to see how the vaccine affects them.
"The NCI ... raises money for breast cancer through walks" and other such fundraisers, said Lead Trial Researcher Robert Vonderheide.
The vaccine focuses on manipulating white blood cells to attack a certain "enzyme called polymerase that is present in almost 100 percent of breast cancer cases," Vonderheide said.
The same enzyme is also found in close to 80 percent of other cancers.
"This is the first clinical study to use [this particular solution] as a possible vaccine against breast cancer," Vonderheide said in an HUP release.
Researchers hope that "the immune response will kill the cancer and improve the health of patients."
Although the target enzyme is rare in normal body cells, Vonderheide said that they are present in some parts of the body, such as bone marrow.
One of the fears about this vaccine is that it could attack bone marrow or one of the other parts of the body that contain the target enzyme, causing potential risk to patients.
Vonderheide said, however, that according to data gathered in laboratory research over the last five years for the vaccine, the vaccine does not appear to be harmful to the bone marrow.
The inspiration for this trial comes from the results of a previous trial -- also directed by Vonderheide -- which "showed immune responses with little toxicity in seven breast and prostate cancer patients after they were injected with small amounts of a similar ... vaccine," according to an official HUP release.
"One breast cancer patient in the earlier study showed temporary tumor regression, prompting us to accelerate research into the possibility of a vaccine," Trial Principal Investigator Susan Domchek said in a HUP release.
