Vaccine for aggressive breast cancer shows promising results in first trial

Triple negative cancer is considered an aggressive cancer as it develops rapidly, making it more likely to recur after treatment compared to other types of breast cancer. Because of this, survival rates are generally low.

However, an experimental vaccine, still in the first phase of clinical trials, has given promising results in preventing the reappearance of this type of tumors.

The phase 1 clinical trial included 18 patients diagnosed with non-metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.of which 14 showed an immune response to the vaccine and, after three years, 16 were still cancer-free, indicates a study published in Genome Medicine.

The vaccine candidate, designed by the University of Washington, is personalized for each patient with the goal of locating key mutations in their specific tumor and training immune cells to recognize and attack any cell carrying them.

For the team, “these results were better than we expected,” in the words of the lead author of the research, William Gillanders.

Each woman received standard treatment against the disease along with three doses of the vaccine. The study concludes that the drug is well tolerated (that is one of the objectives of a phase 1 trial) and stimulates the immune system.

To date, triple-negative breast cancer lacks targeted therapies and is typically treated with traditional approaches including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.

The trial included women with this type of cancer who had signs of tumor after a first round of chemotherapy and six of them were African-Americansince – for reasons that are still being investigated – it tends to be more frequent among them.

*With information from EFE.

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