Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Four-Week Vaccination Regimen Knocks Out Early Breast Cancer Tumors, Penn Researchers Report
Last edited Mon Jan 30, 2012, 06:51 PM - Edit history (1)
http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/cancer-tumors/[font face=Times, Serif]January 30, 2012
News Release
[font size=5]Four-Week Vaccination Regimen Knocks Out Early Breast Cancer Tumors, Penn Researchers Report[/font]
[font size=4]Majority of Patients Treated Develop Strong, Lasting Immune Responses[/font]
[font size=3]PHILADELPHIA -- Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania report that a short course of vaccination with an anti-HER2 dendritic cell vaccine made partly from the patient’s own cells triggers a complete tumor eradication in nearly 20 percent of women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), an early breast cancer. More than 85 percent of patients treated appear to have a sustained immune response after vaccination, which may reduce their risk of developing a more invasive cancer in the future. The results of the study were published online this month of Cancer and in the January issue of the Journal of Immunotherapy.
The researchers say the results provide new evidence that therapeutic breast cancer vaccines may be most effective for early, localized disease, and when the treatment attacks a protein critical to cancer cell survival.
“I think these data more than prove that vaccination works in situations where the target is right,” says the study’s leader, Brian Czerniecki, MD, PhD, surgical director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center and Surgical Director of the Immunotherapy Program for the Abramson Cancer Center. “Previous vaccines targeted tissue antigens that were expressed on the cancer cells, but were not necessary for tumor survival. So a vaccine response would cause the tumor to just stop expressing the antigen and the tumor would be fine. Here we’re going after HER2/neu, which is critical for survival of early breast cancers. If we knock it out with the immune response, we cripple the tumor cells.”
Czerniecki and colleagues enrolled 27 women with HER2-positive DCIS. They isolated specialized white cells from the patients’ blood using standard apheresis techniques similar to the blood donation process. Once isolated, the researchers activated the dendritic cells, which are key regulators of the immune system, and primed them with small pieces of the HER2/neu protein in Penn’s Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility. Each patient then received four shots, one week apart, of their personalized anti-HER2 vaccine. And two weeks later patients had surgery to remove any remaining disease, which is standard care for DCIS patients.
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cncr.26734
News Release
[font size=5]Four-Week Vaccination Regimen Knocks Out Early Breast Cancer Tumors, Penn Researchers Report[/font]
[font size=4]Majority of Patients Treated Develop Strong, Lasting Immune Responses[/font]
[font size=3]PHILADELPHIA -- Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania report that a short course of vaccination with an anti-HER2 dendritic cell vaccine made partly from the patient’s own cells triggers a complete tumor eradication in nearly 20 percent of women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), an early breast cancer. More than 85 percent of patients treated appear to have a sustained immune response after vaccination, which may reduce their risk of developing a more invasive cancer in the future. The results of the study were published online this month of Cancer and in the January issue of the Journal of Immunotherapy.
The researchers say the results provide new evidence that therapeutic breast cancer vaccines may be most effective for early, localized disease, and when the treatment attacks a protein critical to cancer cell survival.
“I think these data more than prove that vaccination works in situations where the target is right,” says the study’s leader, Brian Czerniecki, MD, PhD, surgical director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center and Surgical Director of the Immunotherapy Program for the Abramson Cancer Center. “Previous vaccines targeted tissue antigens that were expressed on the cancer cells, but were not necessary for tumor survival. So a vaccine response would cause the tumor to just stop expressing the antigen and the tumor would be fine. Here we’re going after HER2/neu, which is critical for survival of early breast cancers. If we knock it out with the immune response, we cripple the tumor cells.”
Czerniecki and colleagues enrolled 27 women with HER2-positive DCIS. They isolated specialized white cells from the patients’ blood using standard apheresis techniques similar to the blood donation process. Once isolated, the researchers activated the dendritic cells, which are key regulators of the immune system, and primed them with small pieces of the HER2/neu protein in Penn’s Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility. Each patient then received four shots, one week apart, of their personalized anti-HER2 vaccine. And two weeks later patients had surgery to remove any remaining disease, which is standard care for DCIS patients.
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/CJI.0b013e318235f512
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
