Dec 20, 2007 9:54 pm US/Central
Doctors Hopeful About Breast Cancer Vaccine Trial
There is new hope in the fight against breast cancer.
Researchers are working on a vaccine they say could someday stop the recurrence of breast cancer.
In a small Maryland lab, researchers are looking for big results. They hope to find a cure for breast cancer that will save women like Susan Marangi. She says finding out she had the disease brought harsh realism. "It finally became extremely clear to me that I was going to die."
Susan was first diagnosed with stage one breast cancer 19 years ago. She's had chemotherapy, surgery and radiation.
'Traditionally everybody would say if you can make it five years, your home free," Marangi explained. At first, it looked as if the treatment had worked. But now, she's terminal, with stage-four breast cancer.
Marangi isn't taking her diagnosis lying down; she's hoping she can help find a cure. "Knowing that the current treatment was only going to be 20 or 30 percent effective it's not in my makeup to wait for something to happen. So I talked to my oncologist and she told me about this study."
Susan is one of nearly 50 women taking part in clinical trials led by Johns Hopkins University Oncologist Leisha Emens.
Emens says the test vaccine is designed from cancer cells. Right now, the vaccine is being given to women who've already had breast cancer, to see if it keeps the disease from coming back.
Emens says much like the recently approved cervical cancer vaccine, the breast cancer vaccine uses the body to defeat the cancer. "The problem with cancer is because it comes from within you. Our idea is reeducate the immune system to recognize tumor cells more like an infection, like a cold virus, and to seek out and to destroy cancer."
The vaccine is injected under the skin and is given with low doses of chemotherapy. Side effects are minimal but the research is in the early stages.
Emens says the ideal situation is to prevent the disease from happening in the first place.
The vaccine, which researchers say shows remarkable promise, is in its early stages and still years away from widespread use.
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