{"id":34065,"date":"2020-01-09T06:20:13","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T13:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?p=34065"},"modified":"2024-11-16T07:07:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T14:07:20","slug":"buh-bye-breast-cancer-that-would-be-nifty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/01\/buh-bye-breast-cancer-that-would-be-nifty\/","title":{"rendered":"Buh-Bye Breast Cancer? That Would Be Nifty."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Breast Cancer Photo Source: Flickr Creative Commons by crazy_dame https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/craftydame\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

One in eight women gets breast cancer. I\u2019m one of the eight.<\/p>\n

Even if you survive, the cancer takes some pretty big chunks out of you, and a lot of women don\u2019t survive. I\u2019ve been to enough funerals, courtesy of breast cancer, to know that.<\/p>\n

Then, there is the dirty little secret that oncologists and other cancer docs try to hide. Quite a number of people end up dying from the treatments, or, more likely, the after-affects of the treatments. Once again, I\u2019ve been to funerals, courtesy of the damage done to women\u2019s bodies by treatments for breast cancer.<\/p>\n

If there was a vaccine for breast cancer, that would be \u2026 well \u2026 I have no words. Let\u2019s just say nifty. It would be nifty to the 100th power of niftiness.<\/p>\n

If my granddaughter could live her life without mammograms and fearful \u201cquestionable\u201d reports and painful biopsies and degrading medical procedures for this hideous disease that would be nifty indeed.<\/p>\n

My 94-year-old mother once stood on street corners with a coffee can, asking for donations to the March of Dimes. She wanted a vaccine to end polio. If I could end breast cancer the same way, you\u2019d better believe I\u2019d be out there this afternoon.<\/p>\n

Keith Knutson, PhD, Director of the Discovery and Translation Labs at the Mayo Clinic, says that he thinks we can develop a vaccine for breast cancer during his lifetime. I don\u2019t know how old Dr Knutson is, but I\u2019m pretty sure his lifetime is considerably longer than the lifetime I\u2019m looking at.<\/p>\n

I almost certainly will not live to see this vaccine. But you might. And your daughters and granddaughters might.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Dr Knutson has vaccines in clinical trials right now to prevent recurrence of primary breast cancer. You read that correctly. These vaccines are in clinical trials today!<\/p>\n

Think about it: A world without breast cancer. Wouldn\u2019t that be nifty?<\/p>\n

This is an article published last March by the Mayo Clinic that describes Dr Knutson\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\n
March 26, 2019<\/div>\n

Buh-Bye, Breast Cancer?<\/h2>\n
By Advancing the Science contributor<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>Can breast cancer<\/a> be prevented with a vaccine? Keith Knutson, Ph.D., <\/a>Department of Immunology<\/a> and director of the Discovery and Translation Labs Cancer Program<\/a> at Mayo Clinic<\/a> in Florida, thinks so. And he thinks it will happen during his lifetime.<\/p>\n

In collaboration with the National Breast Treatment Coalition, Dr. Knutson has developed a vaccine that could prevent all three subtypes of the disease<\/a> \u2014 estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-positive and triple-negative. The vaccine targets six proteins (HER2-neu, mammaglobin-A, MAGEA3, survivin, hTERT and MUC1) that have been found through multiple studies to overexpress in breast cancers.<\/p>\n

The new vaccine is a fundamental shift from how vaccines traditionally prevent infectious disease. Rather than use a virus, bacteria or their components, Dr. Knutson\u2019s vaccine immunizes against proteins that are encoded in a patient\u2019s DNA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we target an infectious disease with a vaccine, we generate immunity against the microorganism that causes the disease by attacking the foreign agent,\u201d says Dr. Knutson. \u201cBreast cancer isn\u2019t caused by a microorganism. Rather, it is driven by the body\u2019s natural proteins. Therefore, we are targeting the proteins, which hasn\u2019t been done before in a vaccine for primary prevention. Cancer vaccines sensitize the immune system to the appearance of cancer tissue. We know from preclinical studies that targeting these molecules in animal models is safe. This is a new trajectory for how we prevent disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Knutson is embarking on a yearlong phase I clinical trial<\/a>\u00a0with women who have been treated for
\nadvanced metastatic breast cancer that is likely to recur. This effort is supported by the National Breast
\nCancer Coalition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to involve patients who are likely to benefit from the vaccine while we make sure it performs as we think it will \u2014 generating a safe immune\u00a0response,\u201d he says. \u201cPatients who have had advanced metastatic breast cancer have nothing to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

A phase II trial<\/a>, likely to begin in 2020, will focus on patients who are at high risk for breast cancer. Dr. Knutson estimates it will take five to 10 years to determine if the vaccine reduced incidence of breast cancer in the high-risk population. A phase III trial<\/a>would involve 100,000 women across multiple centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook around you for a women who is about 25 today,\u201d says Dr. Knutson. \u201cBy the time she completes\u00a0her child-bearing years \u2014 around age 40 \u2014 we could conceivably have this vaccine ready to prevent her from developing breast cancer. This isn\u2019t pie in the sky. We believe this is doable. We\u2019re working as fast as we can. All of us on the team know women who are or have been affected by breast cancer. The only thing that could speed along our efforts is additional funding for more lab techs, regulatory staff, clinical trial experts and others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preventing breast cancer recurrence<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Keith Knutson, Ph.D., with team members Emilie Perkerson, a research technologist, and Geraldine Vidhy Raja, Ph.D., a research fellow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Is it possible to prevent recurrence of breast cancer by stimulating the immune system?<\/p>\n

Dr. Knutson thinks so. He has three vaccines in clinical trials<\/a> to reduce mortality from breast cancer in the absence of a primary preventive vaccine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the immune system protects against cancer. People who have higher levels of immunity to cancer have better outcomes,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re working on ways to safely boost these protective responses because current drug treatments for cancer are highly toxic. Vaccines, however, are not toxic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can stimulate enough immunity to these cancers, our hope is that the immune system will take over and prevent cancer from developing or recurring.\u201d (Read the rest here<\/a>.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One in eight women gets breast cancer. I\u2019m one of the eight. Even if you survive, the cancer takes some pretty big chunks out of you, and a lot of women don\u2019t survive. I\u2019ve been to enough funerals, courtesy of breast cancer, to know that. Then, there is the dirty little secret that oncologists and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1155,"featured_media":30359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,7839,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america","category-breast-cancer-2","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBuh-Bye Breast Cancer? That Would Be Nifty.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One in eight women gets breast cancer. I'm one of the eight. 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