07 Feb UW Carbone Cancer Center conducting breast cancer vaccine clinical trial

By Sara Benzel, UW Health

UW Carbone Cancer Center is one of three research institutions in the United States participating in a breast cancer vaccine clinical trial and was the first to administer the vaccine to a participating patient.

The trial is testing a novel vaccine, developed by Dr. Nora Disis at the University of Washington in Seattle, designed to prevent the recurrence of triple-negative breast cancer, according to Dr. Lee Wilke, senior medical director of Clinical Oncology Services, UW Health, and principal investigator for the clinical trial at UW Carbone. Triple-negative breast cancer cells lack three different features that are targeted by certain currently available drugs, resulting in fewer treatment options.

“We’re testing this vaccine to determine whether the patient’s immune system revs up to fight cancer cells, whether the cancer cells are there or not in patients with a previously treated triple-negative cancer,” Wilke said. “The primary focus is whether the patients develop an immune response to a DNA-based vaccine that is targeting features of cancer stem cells.”

Triple-negative breast cancer accounts for 10-15 percent of breast cancers diagnosed and tends to be more common in women younger than 40 years old, who are Black, or who have a BRCA1 genetic mutation, according to the American Cancer Society. Read more …