Breast Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise
June 18, 2010 09:41pm EST
The vaccine, under development by American scientists and published in the journal, Nature Medicine, offers hope for an eventual breast cancer vaccine that is effective in humans. The researchers now say that they are hoping to conduct human drug trials of the vaccine to test its efficacy.
While the vaccine may not be available to the general public in the next few years, it has been found to target a specific protein found in many breast cancer tumors. The researchers injected the vaccine into mice at high-risk for developing cancer. In the study, none of the mice injected with the vaccine developed breast cancer.
The difficulty of finding a cancer vaccine is well documented. As of 2010, there are only two cancer-prevention vaccines that are approved by the FDA. Using preventive vaccines to prevent cancer is dangerous, as vaccinating against the development of the body’s own cells can destroy healthy tissue.
Breast cancer stands as one of the most common and deadly diseases across the world. Should the vaccine be as successful in humans as it is in mice, the finding can prove to one of the biggest medical breakthroughs in recent history.
