The Federal Drug Administration announced Friday approval of a Phase 1 clinical trial designed to study a breast cancer vaccine developed at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center.
According to SKCC President and CEO Dr. Albert Deisseroth, “This vaccine will be administered for recurrent breast cancer and is the first cancer vaccine to be specifically designed for the aged immune system which often fails to respond to vaccinations for infectious diseases as well as cancer.”
“If the vaccine is able to suppress the growth of established breast cancer, it is very likely that it will be of use in preventing the development of breast cancer in families genetically predisposed to this disease, ” said Joy Hamer, RN, OCN and SKCC's Director of Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs.
Dr. Deisseroth's vaccine has been in development for more than seven years, and during that entire period, the work has been supported by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of New York City. The Breast Cancer Research Programs of the Department of Defense and the State of California have also supported the work which began when Dr. Deisseroth was at Yale University, prior to joining SKCC.
According to Dr. Deisseroth, this vaccine is unique from all other approaches in its two-pronged approach:
First, it is designed to boost the response of the aged immune system by replacing a potent immunostimulatory signal which is missing in older people. Health experts estimate that only 20 percent of individuals over the age of 50 develop immunity from standard vaccines, such as common flu vaccines. Women with breast cancer are often immune-impaired for several reasons. The average breast cancer patient is 50-60 years old. Additionally, those with recurrent disease are frequently immune-suppressed both by previous chemotherapy and by their disease burden.