Hi all! Lumpie here. Thank you so much for your concern. Sorry I have not been present as much as in the past. You know how life just catches up with you some times and is demanding? That's kind of where I am. The side effects of my current treatment are chronic and annoying which slows me down. I have had some personal business and family matters that have consumed a great deal of my available time and energy lately. Some fun stuff, too: I saw a couple of college friends last week that I had not seen in a very long time. And then there is the less fun stuff (semi-flooded basement). You know.... life is messy and it comes at you non-stop. So it has taken away from my time to read and research. Maybe I have missed it due to inattention, but I have not seen the volume of new research with eye-catching results coming out lately. (Sidebar: I confess that, while I think that the new BC.com format is "prettier," I find it more challenging for posting to-be-read research-type material. A minor issue, but a thought.) I hope that in a few more months I will still be doing well and will be on a more even keel. Maybe more promising research will be published then, too. I do watch the discussion and if I see anything really good, I will try to pop over and post. The mutual support and concern in this forum - and others - is so wonderful. It's keeps me believing in humanity. More asap... take care and be well!

Symptom trackers may improve QOL in metastatic cancer

People with metastatic cancer who reported symptoms, lifestyle habits and daily challenges electronically every week had greater improvement in physical function, symptom control and health-related quality of life than those receiving usual care, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Care teams were alerted when patients reported severe or worsening symptoms, potentially enabling interventions that prevented complications, but the researchers also noted that alerts could be difficult for care team members to address in the absence of dedicated time.

Reported here: https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/study-electron...

Study here: doi:10.1001/jama.2022.9265

Relevant clinical trial: NCT03249090

{Of course, they will charge for access to the full study. Reporting and abstract are free. I have been encouraging my computer science guru nephew to develop a symptom tracking app that is not evil (=sells your private info). We'll see.}

Getting closer to a vaccine for cancer

Scientists have worked for years to harness the power of the immune system. New approaches make researchers optimistic about success.

June 14, 2022

...scientists studying cancer vaccines believe they now are closer than ever before. While these vaccines are still a long way from approval, researchers think they represent the future of cancer care.

{a few quotes re breast cancer...}

MUC1, is present in several types of cancers, including colon, breast, prostate, lung and pancreatic. An MUC1-based vaccine she and her team developed showed a strong response from the immune system in clinical trials in patients with premalignant colon polyps, leading them to believe the vaccine could help prevent the growth of new polyps and keep existing ones from turning cancerous.

The vaccine reduced polyp recurrence rates by 38 percent in their clinical trial

"We and other groups are paying attention to premalignant lesions and focusing on trying to boost the immune system to stop the progression from premalignant to malignancy," Finn says, adding that her group is about to begin a trial of the same vaccine in patients with ductal carcinoma in situ — an early stage of cancer that is confined to breast milk ducts and not yet invasive — to see whether the vaccine can stop it from spreading.

Many cancers also share common antigens, meaning a personalized vaccine isn't always necessary. HER2, a molecule found in about 25 percent of breast cancers is one example. Berzofsky's lab is testing therapeutic vaccines for several cancers, including one that targets HER2.

"It's a 'driver' antigen, which means the cancer can't do without it," Berzofsky says. "It keeps telling the cell: divide and multiply, so going after it with a vaccine would be very effective." Early clinical trials have been promising, he says. There is a drug, Herceptin, available to treat HER2-positive breast cancer patients, but "the patient has to come back to get an IV drip every few weeks," Berzofsky says. "If we had a vaccine that caused a patient to make her own HER2 antibodies, she wouldn't need to come back for the drug."

Knutson and Amy Degnim, a breast surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, also designed a HER2 vaccine and recently completed a small clinical trial in 22 patients with invasive breast cancer. The vaccine, based on four fragments of the HER2 protein, provoked both antibodies and T cells in all the patients, Degnim says. The vaccine was given in six doses, each one a month apart.

After a little more than two years, only two patients had recurrences: one developed another tumor in the same breast, the second patient experienced a recurrence in the lymph nodes, "but that patient did not complete the full vaccination course," having received only four doses, Degnim says.

They are also developing another vaccine they hope will completely prevent breast cancer in women at high risk for the disease. Initially, however, it will be tested — for safety reasons — only in women who already have breast cancer.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/14/c...

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200200119

{The Post generally puts stuff behind a pay wall. PM me if you have questions. The journal will let you see the abstract, but there is a pay wall for full access.}