12 Feb Combatting aggressive breast cancer
Dr. Eva Vivian is a strong proponent of preventive medicine, both professionally and for her own health.
So when the opportunity arose for Vivian, a professor in the UW School of Pharmacy and a breast cancer survivor, to join a clinical trial testing a vaccine meant to prevent breast cancer development and recurrence, she didn’t hesitate.
“Having a vaccine that can prevent the development of breast cancer would be phenomenal, because it means that women would not have to go through the intensive treatment that I went through,” said Vivian. “This is a huge step going forward in combatting breast cancer.”
The UW Carbone Cancer Center is one of three research institutions in the U.S. selected to host this phase II clinical trial, and Vivian was the first patient nationwide to begin the vaccine series.
“This trial is testing whether the patient’s immune system revs up to fight cancer cells, whether the cells are there or not,” said Dr. Lee Wilke, who is overseeing the UW Carbone portion of the trial. “The primary focus is whether the patients develop an immune response to a DNA-based vaccine that is targeting features of cancer stem cells.”
The vaccine is designed for triple negative breast cancer patients at stages I-III who have been curatively treated. Triple negative means the cancer cells don’t have estrogen or progesterone receptors, and they don’t make a protein called HER2. This form of breast cancer is more aggressive and often has a worse prognosis. Read more …