Breast Cancer Vaccine?
August 18, 2007
I haven’t read the study yet, but Reuters is reporting that an experimental breast cancer vaccine appears to be safe. The vaccine is intended to target a specific kind of breast cancer, which the report indicates represents about 20-30% of cases, although I’m not an expert on that topic. The study was a Phase I trial, which means it is in the early stages of research and the investigators were looking at safety and dosage, and were not focusing specifically on how well the vaccine actually works. A good result on safety, though, means further research on the usefulness of the vaccine can proceed. I’ll try to track down the study report and have more later.
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Enjoyed talking to you at BarCamp!
This is for HER2+ cancers; will it be any better than trastuzumab?
Christy, you too! I’m checking out your shop again right now, actually.
Hildy – Too soon to know. I need to read the study, but I know it was just the safety phase. How good it is should come from the next phase of research.
In the meantime, while there is no sure-fire vaccine or cure, there are still plenty of things you can do to prevent breast cancer — the Breast Cancer Fund’s http://www.notmybreasts.org site has some great tips.