Wei-Zen Wei, Ph.D., professor at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, together with a team of researchers have been working on a series of cancer-fighting vaccines since 1996 to help prevent HER2-positive breast cancer.
Approximately 20 - 30 percent of breast cancers make too much of the protein called HER2, which is made at low levels by normal breast cells. Tumors that overexpress HER2 (called HER2-positive) tend to grow faster and are more likely to come back than tumors that don't overexpress the protein.
According to Dr. Wei, this HER2 DNA vaccine was tested in the laboratory on tumor cells that no longer responded to other therapies for HER2-positive breast cancer. The results in mice showed that the vaccine prevented the cancer from growing and was not toxic.