Personalised Tumour Vaccine

Breast cancer survivors who don't respond to the anticancer drug Herceptin may soon have a new weapon: A vaccine called NeuVax. According to researchers in Texas, the vaccine gets the body's immune system to attack cells with HER-2/neu, a protein found in the majority of breast cancer patients. While Herceptin suppresses cancer in women with high HER-2 levels, it does not work in those with low levels, leaving this group of women with few options.

Breast Cancer Survivors

In a study of 163 patients, those with low HER-2 levels who received NeuVax injections following surgery, chemotherapy and radiation cut their odds of getting cancer again by half, and none of the women died during the study. The phase III trial of NeuVax will involve more than 700 patients. The vaccine may be available in five years.