Breast Examination
Scientists have reported they have developed a vaccine which has prevented breast cancer from developing in mice.
The researchers based in the U.S. have published their findings in the journal, Nature, now plan to conduct trials of the vaccine which is said to target a protein found in most breast tumours in humans.
But the American team caution that it could be some years before the vaccine is widely available.
Immunologist Vincent Tuohy told the press: "We believe that this vaccine will someday be used to prevent breast cancer in adult women in the same way that vaccines have prevented many childhood diseases.
Adding "If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer."
In the study, genetically cancer-prone mice were vaccinated - half with a vaccine containing á-lactalbumin and half with a vaccine that did not contain the antigen. The results produced showed that the mice vaccinated with á-lactalbumin did not develop breast cancer, while all of the other mice did.
The US has approved two cancer-prevention vaccines, one against cervical cancer and one against liver cancer, these vaccines target viruses - the human papillomavirus (HPV) and the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) - not the cancer itself.
Viruses are recognised by the bodies immune system as hostile foreign invaders cancer by contrast is an over-development of the body's own cells. The challenge is much more complicated - to attempt to vaccinate against the bodies own cell over-growth means vaccinating against the recipient's own body, including destroying healthy tissue.
Tagged in Breast Cancer