And if this recent development proves to be a success, humanity will soon be able to eradicate breast cancer.
Targetting a specific cell
A vaccine created to prevent breast cancer is set to begin its first human trials, Advanced Science News reported.
This is exciting news because it took Cleveland Clinic over two decades to develop the vaccine.
According to the report, the vaccine targets a specific protein called α-lactalbumin, which is known to be commonly produced by triple-negative breast cancers.
"The general idea behind the vaccine is that α-lactalbumin could be a so-called immunologic target – where we can stimulate the immune system to attack cells that make that protein," G. Thomas Budd, the principal investigator on the trial, told the news portal.
Prior to this, researchers have been studying the effectiveness of the vaccine against triple-negative breast cancer, and animal trials have shown that how training one's immune system to target α-lactalbumin-producing cells can slow down the growth of tumours.
Vincent Tuohy, the primary inventor of the vaccine, told Advanced Science News that they are trying to use the vaccine to 1) prevent the emergence of the tumor and 2) prevent it from ever forming.
The vaccine will next be moved to clinical human trials following an approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for it to be classified as a drug.
The first phase of the trial involves testing 24 patients who have completed treatment for early-stage triple-negative breast cancer in the past three years and are tumor-free, but are also at high-risk for recurrence of the cancer.
The second phase will see cancer-free women who are at high-risk of getting the disease being tested with the vaccine.
If everything goes well, the vaccine can then be used to treat other tumours as well.
Let’s hope the tests run smoothly, because we really can't wait to get rid of cancer for good!