To conclude this month of mobilization against breast cancer, focus on an innovative trial.
- 15% of breast cancers are said to be “triple negative”, according to the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS), which concerns approximately 9,000 people each year.
- It is the least common subtype of breast cancer in France.
This is a first: a vaccine against breast cancer will be tested on women. Phase 1 of the trial is about to begin, and will focus on triple negative breast cancer.
Preventive vaccine
“In the long term, we hope to produce a true preventive vaccine that would be given to healthy women to prevent them from developing triple negative breast cancer, the form of breast cancer for which we have the least effective treatments,” said Dr. G. Thomas Budd, study leader.
Based on two decades of laboratory work and animal research, his trial will take place at Lerner Research Institute from the Cleveland Clinic. It will include at least 18 women who have survived triple-negative breast cancer and are at high risk of recurrence.
Three shots
Participants will receive three injections, spaced two weeks apart, and will be followed for 84 days after the last dose is administered. “Once we figure out how much vaccine we can administer, we will look at its effects on the immune system,” explains Dr. G. Thomas Budd.
The vaccine will then be tested on healthy women who are at high risk of developing the disease, such as those with mutations in the BRCA1 gene.
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