New breakthrough vaccine could treat Triple Negative breast cancer

26.2 with DONNA The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer is thrilled to announce a stunning new development that could mean a vaccine for some women with Triple Negative Breast Cancer, an aggressive type of breast cancer that tends to strike young women, African American women, and women of Hispanic descent.

This breakthrough is due in large part to the advanced work of the Mayo Clinic Genomics Team in Jacksonville, Fla. created with funding from the 26.2 with DONNA organization. In its eighth year, 26.2 with DONNA has contributed more than $3.5 million to Mayo Clinic for bench top breast cancer research and to The Donna Foundation to provide financial assistance to those living with breast cancer.

This announcement comes just days before the annual Marathon Weekend, and is especially exciting for the three-time breast cancer survivor Donna Deegan, founder of 26.2 with DONNA. Deegan herself was diagnosed with Triple Negative breast cancer at age 38.

"When we started this wonderful journey eight years ago, I knew we'd make progress," says Deegan. "But I had no idea just how fast that progress would come. We continue to make a huge difference in the lives of women with breast cancer every day, and the research we are funding will make life better for generations of women to come."

The vaccine was developed by a team of researchers at Mayo Clinic led by Dr. Edith Perez, and immunologist Dr. Keith Knutson, who has worked on treatments for both ovarian and breast cancer.

"I tell you the marathon has been instrumental to all of this work that we have done over the years because we didn't have a genomics program here at Mayo before the marathon," says Dr. Perez.

Clinical trials of the vaccine are not yet ready to begin. Additional funding is needed but the trials are targeted for later this year. Mayo Clinic is the only multi-site National Cancer Institute designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the U.S. For more information about these clinical trials, call 855-776-0015.

Marathon weekend is February 13-15, and will attract more than 10,000 runners from all 50 states and more than 20 countries worldwide.