Big news for women with aggressive form of breast cancer : a vaccine shows promising results. This is what a clinical trial, carried out by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, in the United States, reveals.
The study, published on November 14 in the journal Genome Medicine, focused on a neoantigen vaccine which turns out to be rather effective on triple negative breast cancer. This cancer, detected in 9,000 new women per year, is distinguished by the absence of the three receptor hormones used to treat other types of breast cancer. This makes him particularly aggressive and difficult to treat.
Reduction in recurrences
The study involved 18 patients suffering from this cancer, without spreading, and having undergone chemotherapy and an operation to make it disappear. They received three doses of the vaccine. After three years, the researchers found that two of them were victims of a recurrence. However, usually, 50% of women treated for this cancer undergo a relapse.
The vaccine is described by researchers as a neoantigen: it allows the immune system to recognize mutations in breast tumorand to attack cancer cells.
Further larger-scale trials are needed to confirm the effectiveness of this vaccinebut the results are exciting. The researchers behind it hope to be able to develop this technology andadapt to other pathologies.
Current treatments are not very effective
If it proves effective, the vaccine would come complement current treatmentswhich are not as targeted. Today this cancer cannot be treated with hormone therapylike other breast cancers, due to the absence of the necessary receptors.
Women who are victims can use chemotherapy e, radiotherapy and/or surgerybut triple negative breast cancer remains very aggressive. It represents 15% of breast cancers, and 40% of affected women have under 40 years old.
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