Breast Cancer Vaccine

Chicagoan

More signs of hope-a woman in Florida was cured by a new breast cancer vaccine. They are even trying it on Stage 4 patients. Let's keep hoping for cure! https://people.com/health/florida-woman-recovers-from-breast-cancer-with-trial-vaccine-i-feel-like-i-walked-on-the-moon/?fbclid=IwAR3LaeJ6JTpOx-Lm0MFYnXrqJhZ5_p7p6JYXO3OOZoFQrHEnlnGAtTqPFBc

Anonymous

this is great...hope it does turn out to work for us..some or all...wonder if hormone and HER2 status matter

Law828

Not much is being said about it. I pray it is true and that it works on all of us.

Piggy99

I want to be hopeful for this, I really do... But right now this is just a woman with DCIS that had the vaccine AND a mastectomy and is still clear less than a year afterwards. I think that the vast majority of women with DCIS that undergo a mastectomy are clear a year out, so this doesn't tell us much about what the vaccine does long term.

However, the fact that the DCIS was wiped out and not visible on the pathology report is certainly encouraging at least for short term efficacy.

I think the most realistic hope for this vaccine is that it will prevent DCIS from turning into full blown breast cancer, or that it will be so safe (and effective) that it could be given as a prophylactic to women before they develop any stage of breast cancer. The researchers think they will have an answer to that question in less than ten years. As a mother of an 8-year old, this makes me immensely hopeful for my little girl. For myself, I'm more skeptical. Seems that these vaccines have a lot more success against cancer cells that have not yet formed a "tumor", where they can take advantage of the tumor microenvironment to fend off immune system attacks. So, perhaps it could be successful in stage IV NED/NEAD people, keeping them NED longer, or forever. That would still be a wonderful accomplishment, since current treatments can probably get upwards of 20% of us to NED, they just can't always keep us there very long.

The big hope, a vaccine that would work to destroy actual tumors, I don't know that there's evidence of that yet, but I feel that every day we hang on another little piece gets added to the puzzle.

DivineMrsM

Piggy, I agree with how you say you want to be hopeful, but there are a few questions. Because it’s true, dcis stage zero has to be one of if not the very earliest form of bc. It will be interesting to hear how the vaccine would affect other stages of bc including stage iv. To stimulate immune cells to attack the cancer cells sounds very promising. Seven months seems a short time to judge the effectiveness of the vaccine for a very early stage bc but the initial success is great to hear. And with so many scientific and technological advance, the vaccine could always be improved upon of necessary. I guess we wait and see. Fingers crossed!

Chicagoan

I wish we Stage 4 patients could volunteer to try the vaccine without going all the way to Mayo. I would happily be a guinea pig for this experiment. I'd love to see what would happen if my immune system was stimulated.

Beesie

DCIS is confined to the ducts of the breast. It is Stage 0 breast cancer, a non-invasive condition.

A vaccine that eliminates DCIS is great news and may be the first step towards preventing the development of invasive breast cancer, since the majority of IDC cases start as DCIS.

That said, elimination of this earliest stage of breast cancer - or pre-cancer, as many breast experts now call it - that is only found in the milk ducts of the breas says nothing about whether the vaccine could eliminate invasive breast cancer cells that have moved beyond the breast, either in a patient who has already been diagnosed with mets, or a patient with Stage I, II or III invasive breast cancer who may have some rogue breast cancer cells lying wait somewhere in her body.

DivineMrsM

Chicagoan, I'm sure many stage iv women feel as you do, wanting to be participants in the vaccine. If I were deemed a good candidate, I'd want it, too.

Using the word vaccine is confusing if used to treat existing bc, regardless of stage, isn't it? We don't wait to get measles, polio or chicken pox before we get the vaccine for those diseases. Like I said, still some unanswered questions.