Breast cancer vaccine era is coming, clinical cure can be expected in the future

In the face of the epidemic, vaccines may be the ultimate weapon in this disaster

1.

Dendritic cells (DC cells) are the most powerful antigen-presenting cells (APC), which can efficiently ingest, process, and present antigens.

Therefore, the researchers designed a new anti-cancer vaccine targeting DC cells with degradable particles.

The particle size distribution and morphology of the vaccine (source: reference source 1)

In mice, a single dose of vaccine can induce DC cell maturation to enhance tumor antigen presentation, and promote the further proliferation of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells, prolonging the immune response to the 8th week

Duration of CD8+ T cell proliferation induced by anti-cancer vaccine (red)

(Image source: reference source 1)

In addition, studies have also shown that if this clinically applicable cancer vaccine is used in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors, the cure rate of tumor mice can be increased to 75%, and long-term protection against tumor recurrence will be achieved.

2.

The following five-year recurrence rate of breast cancer patients is zero, which can be called a clinical cure drug KM curve, which reflects the strength of the GP2 vaccine:

Survival curve of breast cancer patients

(Image source: reference source 2)

We can intuitively see that the disease-free survival rate (DFS) of the HER2+ breast cancer patients in the cancer vaccine GP2 group in the picture is a perfect straight line, DFS has reached 100%, and the recurrence rate is 0%

For breast cancer patients, the therapeutic effect achieved by GP2 is the ultimate goal of all drugs

In the clinical trials of the GP2 tumor vaccine, the researchers enrolled a total of 168 patients, who were randomly divided into two groups receiving GP2+GM-CSF (an immune adjuvant) and GM-CSF alone

After a 5-year follow-up, 46 breast cancer patients treated with GP2+GM-CSF had a 5-year DFS of 100%, which is the dream-free disease-free survival rate line mentioned above

We can intuitively see that after the first year, patients in the placebo group started to progress, while the GP2 group was still in a straight line at the 5th year or even later

3.

In response, they conducted related experiments, and the results showed that: since α-lactalbumin is only conditionally expressed during lactation, the vaccine induces and prevents any detectable inflammation in normal non-lactating breast tissues
.
Therefore, α-lactalbumin can be used as an ideal target to design vaccines for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer
.

Alpha-lactalbumin vaccination can provide a safe and effective opportunity for women to prevent the development of breast cancer during the period after childbirth and before menopause
.

The FDA has approved this vaccine for human trials on December 21, 2020.
This breast cancer vaccine technology was invented and developed by the Cleveland Clinic immunologist Dr.
Vincent Tuohy and his research team
.
This technology can be used to immunize women's mammary glands during late pregnancy and lactation
.
Researchers predict that cancer cells in the body of women who have been vaccinated will be destroyed by the immune system, thereby preventing the occurrence of cancer
.

The initial focus of this trial was triple-negative breast cancer, but the technology is expected to potentially prevent other types of breast cancer, and even has a certain effect on the prevention of ovarian cancer
.

The reason why mankind hopes that vaccines can prevent and conquer various diseases, including cancer, is because vaccines can work through similar mechanisms, whether they are used to prevent infectious diseases or prevent and treat cancer: they teach the immune system to prevent and treat cancer.
Infectious pathogens or cancer cells are recognized as foreign substances that need to be eliminated
.
There are special proteins on the surface of cancer cells.
By targeting these proteins, the immune system can specifically eliminate cancer cells without harming normal cells
.
In addition, the vaccine can prevent the recurrence of cancer and remove the remaining cancer cells after treatment
.
In addition to the breast cancer vaccine mentioned above, in the past 30 years, cancer vaccines have been extensively studied in animal models and humans, involving many different types of cancer
.
The clinical cure of tumors can be expected in the future
.

Reference source:

1.
PLGA-particle vaccine carrying TLR3/RIG-I ligand riboxxim synergizes with immune checkpoint blockade for effective anti-cancer immunotherapy.

2.
https:// html.

3.
Jaini, R; Kesaraju, P; Johnson, JM; et al.
An autoimmune-mediated strategy for prophylactic breast cancer vaccination.
[J].
Nat Med.
2010,16(7):799-803.