A Jab to beat BC being developed. The vaccine which is still in early stages of developement fights tumours with extra high levels of the HER2 receptor protein on their surface. Genes containing the blue print for the protein are injected into body, where they start making it in high quantities. This triggers the immune system to attack existing tumours or equip itself to stop future ones. Article goes on to say that HER2- positive type of cancer can be treated by drugs such as Herceptin but does not always work, tumours can become resistant to treatment. In mice the jab destroyed all tumours it was tested on - including those resistant to current drugs the journal Cancer Research reports. Professor Wei-Zen Wel of the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit in the U.S. said this could be the answer for women with these tumours who became resistant to current therapies. The vaccine could potentially eliminate the need to even use these therapies.
Interesting, but this is a long way off. It isn’t even the only anti-her2 jab and others are closer to the market. To give you some idea: when I was finishing up treatment four and a half years ago there was an anti-her2 series of jabs coming out that seemed to showing real promise. In the phase I trial it halved the rate of recurrence with minimal side effects. I started saving up my pennies, thinking I might go off to the US to get these jabs became available. So, is this series of jabs jab commercially available anywhere? No, even though it actually seems to work at preventing recurrence. It takes a very, very long time to get through the trials.
Personally, I only pay attention to things that seem to be working on humans. The biotechnology industry of the US has estimated that only one out of every five drugs that work well enough in animals becomes an FDA-approved drug.
Still, it is great that all of those scientists are out their working so hard. May they have the same success in women that they had with mice!
I hear what you are saying. I was dx last year, i’m not even HER2 positive, and when read things like this it does sort of build you’re hopes up. You are right, should maybe only pay attention when it works on humans.
If it is anything like I read recently about vaccine for cervical cancer that was 20 years in the developing and now only this year about to be used. Its interesting that they must feel HER2 is therefore caused by a virus? Isnt that why they usually give vaccines for viruses. I feel it is also optimistic that they are concentrating on specific groups ie HER2 which I now note from Daily Mail accounts for 30% of cases. The figures apparently keep rising. I was told in Feb on dx that it accounted for 25% of cases. I am very suspicious of these statistics they banding about. I now note on the Cancer Research site based on 2005 figures (I presume) the number of bc cases is now running at 45,500. Again I was told 40,000. You simply do not know what to believe with any of it.