Vaccine for metastic breast cancer

Immunotherapy is a new area of cancer treatment. In recent years, this type of treatment has proven successful in increasing survival rates in people with certain types of cancer. This includes metastatic prostate cancer and metastatic lung cancer. More recent research shows that the immune system has an important role. In fact, the first immunotherapy for breast cancer was approved by the Food and Drug Administration FDA in early

Johns Hopkins Health System hospitals, outpatient locations and home care services are serving patients during inclement weather, with some practices switching to telemedicine visits. Patients should contact their providers to confirm. If you have a MyChart account, please contact your provider through MyChart. Posted Feb. When Leisha Emens decided to specialize in treating breast cancer patients, her goal was to bring new ideas to the field. As a physician-scientist, Emens continually works on innovative strategies to beat one of the most common causes of cancer for women and a cancer that still takes far too many lives. The vaccine is injected under the skin and then it goes to work by drawing the attention of the immune cells, known as dendritic cells, to the vaccine injection site.

Expression of CD80 conferred the ability to deliver a costimulatory signal and thereby improved the antigen presentation capability of the tumor cells to patient T cells in vitro. Patients were vaccinated with 10 7 or 10 8 irradiated gene-modified tumor cells with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor GM-CSF or BCG, three times at 2-week intervals and then monthly until progressive disease developed. GM-CSF-related flulike symptoms and minor injection site reactions were observed frequently.

Louis is safe in patients with metastatic breast cancer, results of an early clinical trial indicate. Gillanders, MD, professor of surgery. In the smaller proportion of breast cancer patients whose tumors do not produce mammaglobin-A, this vaccine would not be effective.