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Breast cancer vaccine to go on trial within a year
All women over 40 could be given a jab that
prevents them getting breast cancer, a scientist has claimed.
By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Published: 7:40PM BST 30 May 2010
The drug, which goes on trial within a year, has been shown to
stop tumours ever appearing and also to attack those that are
already present.
If successful, researchers say GPs could offer it to women
before they reach their mid-40s, when the risk of breast cancer
starts to rise steeply.
The drug could wipe out up to 70 per cent of breast cancers,
saving more than 8,000 lives a year in Britain alone.
Dr Vincent Tuohy, the jab's creator, said it promised to offer
"substantial protection" and raised the prospect of wiping out
the disease altogether.
"We truly believe that a preventive breast cancer vaccine will
do to breast cancer what the polio vaccine has done to polio,"
he said.
"We think it will provide substantial protection."Our view is
that breast cancer is a completely preventable disease."
The vaccine is based on protein called alpha-lactalbumin that
lurks in most breast cancer tumours.
In tests on mice bred to develop breast cancers by the age of 10
months, the drug was found to keep them free of tumours, the
journal Nature Medicine reports.
The jab stimulates the immune system, priming it to destroy
alpha-lactalbumin as it appears, and so stopping tumours from
forming.
The drug also harnessed the power of the immune system to shrink
pre-existing tumours by up to half, suggesting it could be used
as a treatment as well as a vaccine.
Effective cancer vaccines have proved notoriously difficult to
make, not least because tumour cells are strikingly similar to
healthy tissues.
A poorly-designed cancer vaccine could easily turn the immune
system against other parts of the body and cause more harm than
good, while another problem is that many cancers weaken the
immune system as they grow.
But as the protein targeted by the new drug is only found in
healthy breasts when they are producing milk, the jab should
specifically target diseased cells, leaving other tissue
untouched.
Dr Tuohy, of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, said: "Tumours are
like drunks in a bar, saying and doing things they shouldn't and
one of these things is expressing (making) alpha-lactalbumin and
we are taking advantage of that."
Finding similar proteins for other cancers, such as bowel or
prostate tumours, could lead to vaccines against other diseases.
Dr Tuohy hopes the test the jab on women for the first time next
year.
One trial would look at its ability to shrink tumours in women
with advanced breast cancer and few other treatment options.
Another would involve young women whose family history puts them
at high risk of the disease.
The trials would focus on how safe the jab is and what sort of
doses should be given.
The need for longer studies on bigger numbers of women mean it
will be at least 10 years before the jab hits the market.
Dr Caitlin Palframan, of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "This
research could have important implications for how we might
prevent breast cancer in the future.
"However, this is an early stage study, and we look forward to
seeing the results of large scale clinical trials to find out if
this vaccine would be safe and effective in humans.
"Crucially, there are already things that women can do to reduce
their breast cancer risk including reducing alcohol consumption,
maintaining a healthy weight and taking regular exercise."
In 2007, 45,700 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and
around 1,000 lives are lost a month.
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