Vaccine Prevents Breast Cancer in Mice

A first-of-its-kind investigational vaccine prevents breast cancer in mice, according to a press release from Cleveland Clinic researchers. Results of their preclinical studies, which were published online Saturday in the journal Nature, lay the foundation for clinical development of the vaccine in women.

The new vaccine differs from the most notable cancer-preventing vaccine, Merck's Gardasil, in that it targets an autoantigen, alpha-lactalbumin, not a cancer-associated virus, like HPV. Alpha-lactalbumin is a breast-specific protein that is overexpressed in most breast cancers and during lactation, but not in normal breast tissue of nonlactating women. In transgenic mouse models of breast cancer, disease was prevented in all inoculated animals, while unvaccinated mice developed cancer. The vaccine also stymied the growth of existing tumors.

The excitement of the study's lead investigator, Vincent Tuohy, PhD, is palpable: "If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer," he says in the press release. Tuohy proposes that the vaccine would be appropriate for women older than 40, when pregnancy (and lactation) is less likely and the risk of breast cancer rises.

Human trials of the vaccine may begin within the year, reports the Clinic.

HPV = human papillomavirus.